Advisers should take control of AI, not wait for permission

Ben Nielson’s points in IFA’s recent article on the limits of AI in advice really hit home for me.

Advisers shouldn’t wait for regulators or software vendors to dictate how AI fits into financial advice.

There’s a great opportunity for advisers to seize the initiative — set the standards, shape the guardrails, and make AI work on their terms.

Ben’s right that many firms are still “tiptoeing” around AI, waiting for external rules that may arrive late, or not at all. That’s risky, and misses out on efficiency gains now.

Those who define the robust, compliant, and quality-controlled uses of AI today will build more efficient firms — and set the benchmarks others will follow.

“The future of advice won’t wait for consensus. Those who lead with clarity and conviction around AI will shape the standards – and everyone else will just adapt to them.”

I agree. In practice, that means: — Deciding which parts of the advice process are strong candidates for streamlining with AI: compliance checks, document generation and data analysis are just some. — Establishing your own audit standards for accuracy and bias in AI-driven outputs. (Tip: use AI to quality-control your AI.) — Building governance into your firm’s processes so clients see transparency and trust reinforced, not eroded.

Regulators will catch up; vendors will add features. But if you’re leading an advice firm today, the responsibility — and the opportunity — is yours.