“The pace of change, development, implementation and innovation for AI is unlike anything we’ve ever seen since probably the formation of the internet, but probably way quicker than even that,” said two-year MDRT member Dave Alison, CFP, EA.

Indeed, considering the speed at which AI has become ubiquitous — and the need for transparency about this sometimes controversial technology — MDRT took the pulse of consumer’s comfort level in the United States, Singapore and Japan with this rapidly evolving technology.

Qualified confidence

Nearly 71% of respondents believed their advisor should use AI, compared to 53% of those not currently working with an advisor, according to a U.S. survey of 2,000 adults conducted in January/February 2025. Those with advisors preferred that they use AI for 24/7 automated chatbot assistance (37.5%), marketing (31.5%), verifying and authenticating documents (29.5%), and general client communications (29.5%).

AI has been on Alison’s radar since he started seeing what some clients at Meta and Google were doing 15 years ago. He was an early adopter of ChatGPT upon its launch in late 2022 and saw how it could transform daily lives for his ultra-high-net-worth clientele, as well as his team of 97 advisors and 145 support staff in the U.S.

Now, Alison uses AI to increase employee productivity, operational efficiency, and to innovate products and services. He spent a lot of time teaching ChatGPT who he is by uploading articles he wrote, podcasts and other content he created, so the AI tool can master his tone and become familiar with his business. Now he prompts the platform to figure out where a strategy could be communicated more simply, identify blind spots and points of differentiation from competitors.

“Imagine we were able to hire for every single one of you the smartest personal assistant that’s ever existed in the world,” Alison told his team. “They’ve read every book, every white paper and every research report, and you can use them as a brainstorm partner to help do your job more effectively.”

The result has been a tenfold increase in productivity and service, including a recent experience when Alison loaded details of a potential real estate deal into ChatGPT for help with crafting a response about due diligence. The project took 30 to 40 minutes instead of the full day that otherwise might have been required for analysis.

Nearly 54% of U.S. survey respondents with advisors who use AI indicated that the quality of advice they received had improved. Compliance, of course, becomes very important with AI, and not just because the MDRT survey found that 53% of U.S. women overall are not comfortable with their advisors using AI for tailored advice, compared with 35.7% of men. Among those without advisors, 43.8% of women were uncomfortable, compared with 41.7% of men.

Besides using a corporate version of ChatGPT that provides data protection beyond what the free version offers, Alison’s practice also spent six months in 2024 writing its internal AI policy, addressing what is and isn’t acceptable for internal staff and advisors to do, especially when personal client information is involved.

“It’s hard to have a giant, one-size-fits-all policy for AI because of how intricate the use cases are,” he said, also noting that a custom GPT helped automate his compliance review process to increase speed and minimize complications. “Every firm needs to think about this.”

For 18-year MDRT member Paresh B. Shah, CFP, the time savings afforded by AI have been massive in his U.S.-based business, creating more efficient processes and workflows for colleagues whether they handle underwriting, case preparation, marketing or client communications. He’s used AI to create training videos, and Shah has benefited from Gamma to create presentations and Zocks, a notetaking app that summarizes meetings and prepares action items but doesn’t record the discussion. Consequently, fewer tasks fall through the cracks, and the ability to check in on action items has improved.

Also, putting redacted tax returns into TaxPlanIQ software, which leverages AI, has fast-tracked estate planning.

“It’s helped us optimize our practice,” said Shah. “We’re trying to use everything as best as possible.”

No one from the client side has asked Shah about his AI use. There was one time someone did take issue with the AI notetaker being present in a virtual meeting, but ironically, they did want to talk about investing in AI.

Long distance, similar sentiment

Client comfort level is high in Singapore as well with 81% of Singaporeans using AI tools, especially for budgeting, expense tracking and automated investment strategies, according to an April 2025 MDRT survey of 2,000 adults there. Seventy-two percent believe advisors should be allowed to use AI, and 88% believe AI has improved the quality of the advice they receive.

Those figures align with what Joyce Chan, ChFC/S, has seen from her clients in Singapore.

“Clients have been challenging me to use AI more in my work!” said the seven-year MDRT member. She has increased production and lowered costs among her administrative team thanks to AI’s ability to refine messaging and content. “I really enjoy writing and tend to write long messages to my clients, so one of them jokingly asked me to summarize my heartfelt message into an easy-to-digest, bullet-point format. It got me doing tl; dr (too long; didn’t read) versions of my messages moving forward, with AI’s help of course.”

Chan and her team also have used AI to compare policies, create training slides, simplify complex financial ideas into simpler, more presentable concepts, and develop branding materials. This has saved time previously spent sifting through policy details and writing summaries.

Singapore clients specifically valued AI’s ability to visually compare their options, says Gerann Ngiam.

“A high-net-worth client appreciated the side-by-side product comparison charts I generated, saying it saved them from reading 50 pages of brochures,” said the three-year MDRT member.

Ngiam has used AI to analyze staff candidate profiles, create recruitment materials — candidates who received AI-personalized pitches were 30% to 40% more likely to proceed in the hiring process — provide financial summaries, develop bilingual explanations and prepare client presentations within 30 minutes, a task that used to take three hours.

In one case, Ngiam helped a client’s parents, who only spoke Mandarin, by using AI to translate and adjust English brochures and insert culturally appropriate analogies like equating compounding interest to planting fruit trees. At 37%, baby boomers (born 1946-1964) in Singapore are least likely to use AI compared with 87% of Gen Z (1997-2012). Speaking of which: Another client asked if Ngiam could clarify his retirement plan in “Tik Tok style.” So, with help from AI, Ngiam crafted an explanation that was fast, fun and inspired the client to share with peers.

The ease of use doesn’t mean that there aren’t limitations, however. The MDRT survey found that 84% of Singaporeans support regulating AI for financial advising, with 88% wanting to be alerted when AI has been used and 79% indicating that they’re already receiving those disclosures.

Fittingly, Chan always credits AI when it has been used, like if videos or images are AI-generated, and communicates the team’s AI policy to clients. That policy includes not entering any identifiable client information into AI, even in the paid, secured versions.

Ngiam — who positioned AI as an assistant, not a replacement, to ease administrative team members’ concerns — likewise has made transparency and maintaining the human connection a priority.

“I always deliver AI outputs with personal explanation,” he said, “so they feel guided and not left with just a machine.”

Mixed feelings

Client embrace of AI is lower in Japan, however, with only 25% of the 2,000 respondents in the April 2025 MDRT survey using AI at all. Only 48% of that group use it for asset management, and just 17% overall indicated interest in having an advisor who uses AI for asset management. (Though the latter number rose to 52% for people with experience working with an advisor and 46% among clients already using AI.) While 39% said advisors shouldn’t use AI at all, 74% of respondents who had experience with an advisor who used AI noted that the technology improved the quality of advice they received.

Sixteen-year MDRT member Katsue Hayashi confirms that while clients in Japan who use AI tools are more positive about it, many are unfamiliar with AI and seem unaware of how it factors into their daily lives, from information in insurance quotation tools to powering recommendations for which YouTube videos to watch.

Hayashi cherishes the time AI saves on document preparation and recognizes the need for herself to understand information and to be able to spot AI errors. When clients express skepticism, she knows how to handle their concern.

“I show them examples directly on their smartphones — for instance, through apps like Gemini or Copilot — so they can see how AI is being safely and effectively integrated into everyday technologies,” she said. “This helps build understanding and trust.”

No matter where you practice, advisors must acknowledge the rapidly increasing role that AI can play for clients and for their work and fight any urge to avoid change.

“Advisors will never be replaced in a client’s life, but advisors who do not use technology will be replaced by the advisors who do use technology,” said Shah, paraphrasing a past MDRT insight he feels becomes more relevant over time. “With AI, we are seeing an acceleration of that. I am trying to incorporate as much of the new technology as I can, so I do not get left behind.”

Echoing that sentiment, Alison adds that AI, which sometimes makes mistakes and requires evaluation, will never have the fiduciary obligation or analytical ability of a human.

“Clients can’t just go to ChatGPT and get the answers they need because many times they don’t know the right prompt to ask,” he said. “The advisor is the expert, not ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a tool.”

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