For financial advisors, the question is no longer whether to use artificial intelligence. Most already do. The harder question is how to use it without sliming out the judgement, accountability and trust that make advice worth paying for.
The adoption numbers tell part of the story. Morningstar's 2025 Voice of the Advisor study found that 67% of surveyed United States advisors were using generative tools in their practices, mostly for meeting summaries, idea generation and client communication. The appeal is obvious. A well-deployed assistant can summarise, draft, translate a complex investment idea into plain language, and tailor communication to hundreds of clients at once. This means less time on the repetitive tasks and more time on the conversations that actually drive a client's outcome.
But clients are watching where the line falls. In a Morningstar behavioral study, our researchers showed investors scenarios in which an advisor used generative tools and compared their reactions with a matched group shown the same scenarios without them. For summarization and administrative work, investors were broadly comfortable. For anything meant to signal personal attention, say - a warm note before a client's holiday, clients are reading it as box-ticking rather than care. Use of advance technology, in other words, is welcome in the back office and but unwelcome in the relationship.
This is where the line matters. Advice is not only about saving time. It is about being responsible for the outcome. An advisor cannot hand that responsibility to software. The rules on accuracy, privacy, suitability and compliance still apply, and regulators have said so. The technology also brings new risks. It can give answers that sound right but are wrong. It can carry bias that is hard to see. It can put client data in the wrong place. Investors in the study were clear about what they need. They want their data kept safe. They want to know when the tool is used. They want a person to check the results. They want the choice to opt out. And they want advice that is not shaped by the machine's blind spots. When a recommendation goes wrong, the software is not blamed. The advisor is.
This balance between using the technology and leaning on it too much is the theme of "The Augmented Advisor: Using AI Without Outsourcing Judgement," a productivity workshop at the Morningstar Investment Conference India 2026.
The session will not ask whether artificial intelligence will replace advisors. That question has been abused enough. It will ask a more useful one: where does the technology make an advisor better, and where must a person stay in control?
The workshop will look at ways advisors are already using these tools. Be it cutting down routine paperwork or explaining portfolios more clearly and advisors are responding to clients faster and in a more personal way. The session will also look dive into the limits advisors should know before they bring these tools deeper into their work. And it will raise one finding that advisors may not like to hear: unless the client is told what they gain, many assume the advisor is simply doing less work for the same fee (Should Clients Pay Less for Advisors Who Use Generative AI?)
Soon, every advisor will have access to this technology. That alone will not set anyone apart. The advantage will go to the advisor who knows when to use it, when to question it, and when to switch it off and think.