Your clients are already usingAI – here’s how to meet them there

Financial planning clients are arriving at meetings with AI-generated research in hand. Advisers who understand this shift will deepen trust. Those who ignore it risk becoming obsolete.

A client walks into your office. Before you can pull up the agenda, she opens her phone and reads a summary of the tax implications of her offshore investment. She asked ChatGPT at 6am while drinking her coffee. This is happening now, across practices of every size. According to Credit Karma, 66% of consumers who have accessed generative AI have used it for financial questions. Among Gen Z and Millennials, that figure climbs to 82%. Your clients are using these tools to prepare for meetings, test your recommendations, and ask the questions they are too embarrassed to raise face-to-face. The question is not whether you approve of this trend; it is how you will respond. Let’s explore what clients are doing with AI, what this means for your role, and how to turn this shift into a competitive advantage.

Diagnose the new client behaviour

The old model of financial advice assumed information scarcity. Clients came to you because they lacked access to data and expertise. That assumption is collapsing.

Clients use AI for three purposes. First, education. According to Credit Karma, 75% of users say AI allows them to ask financial questions they would be too ashamed to ask a human. Questions like “What is compound interest?” go to machines that never raise an eyebrow. Clients arrive with a higher baseline of understanding than five years ago.

Second, research. Before a meeting, a client might ask an AI to summarise balanced fund performance during high inflation. They want to feel prepared and avoid looking foolish. Third, validation. After your meeting, they test your recommendations against what the AI says. If the AI confirms your advice, trust grows. If it contradicts you, they return with questions. This is the new pattern: the client as validator, using AI as quality control for your output.

Decide what role you want to play

Your personal feelings about AI is irrelevant. Your clients are already using it. The only decision that matters is what role you will play.

Option one: Ignore it. Pretend the client did not consult ChatGPT before meeting you. When your advice conflicts with what the AI said and you cannot explain why, you lose credibility.

Option two: Compete with it. Try to out-inform the machine. This is a losing strategy. You cannot match the speed at which AI synthesises data.

Option three: Complement it. Accept that AI handles data synthesis, definitions, and scenario modelling. Focus your energy on what AI cannot do: understanding your client’s family dynamics, their fears about retirement, their real goals beneath the stated goals.

The research is clear. When stakes are low, clients prefer AI for its speed and lack of judgement. When stakes are high – retirement strategy, estate planning, major life transitions – clients demand human oversight. They want emotional reassurance. They want someone who can empathise with the fear of running out of money. AI cannot provide that.

Do this in the next 90 days

Adapting does not require a technology overhaul. It requires a change in posture.

In week one, ask your next five clients: “Have you used ChatGPT or another AI tool to research any topics we are discussing?” Ask with genuine curiosity, not defensively. You will learn more about client behaviour in these conversations than in any industry report. In weeks two to four, build a list of questions clients are asking AI. These are topics where you need to add visible value. Show them what the AI missed. Connect products to their specific situation in ways machines cannot. In weeks five to 12, adjust how you open and close meetings. At the start, invite clients to share what they found. At the end, ask what questions remain. Offer a summary they can review with any tool they choose. When you are confident in your advice, you welcome scrutiny.

Final thought

The rise of AI-informed clients is not a threat to the advisory profession. It is a filter. Advisers who offered little beyond information access will struggle. Those who understand their true value, trust, empathy, and judgement, will find that AI makes their work more visible, not less.

Your clients are already using these tools. Meet them there.

Stay curious!

Visit PROPulsion here.