How to talk with clients about AI

As a trusted advisor, you may be used to fielding questions that have little to do with financial plans. One way you can add value is by being a sounding board, offering perspective or providing confidence to help your clients take the next step.

If clients turn to you with questions about artificial intelligence, you may not know what to say. AI is already part of people’s daily lives, often without them even realizing it. It’s reshaping portfolios, careers and retirement plans — exactly what clients hire you to navigate. Over half of all employees say they’re worried about AI’s impact in their workplace.¹  And people are increasingly skeptical of many of the sources of information they’ve turned to in the past. Only three in 10 Americans say they have at least a fair amount of trust in mass media such as newspapers, TV and radio. Seven in 10 say they have little or no trust at all.²

Talking to clients about AI can create opportunities for you to deepen trust with them — if you come prepared. To help you become a source of clarity and confidence for your clients, use this four‑box framework — Acknowledge, Perspective, Confidence, Opportunity — to guide your conversations.

1. Acknowledge: It’s a time of uncertainty

People have widely varying levels of knowledge about AI. That’s correlated with widely varying feelings about AI, from negative to positive; Gallup research shows that the more knowledgeable people are about AI, the less likely they are to express concern about it.³ Given that your clients could be anywhere on the map, you should ask questions and listen before you speak and provide perspective.

Common concerns and questions you might hear from clients include:

Their portfolio: “Are we in another bubble?” “Am I exposed to companies that will be made obsolete and devalued?” “Am I missing out on AI-driven market gains?”

The job market: “Will AI replace me?” “How will AI affect my kids’ career opportunities?” “What does this mean for our college and retirement planning?”

Your practice: “Is my financial advisor using AI to deliver better results for me?” “Is my advisor using AI with my safety and privacy in mind?” “Are there things I can do on my own with AI tools that advisors charge fees for?”

These questions represent unknowns for many of us. Acknowledge that it’s easy to respond to unknowns with fear and anxiety. Reassure clients that they aren’t alone in their concerns. Let them know their questions put them in good company.

Suggested conversation starters:

• “There’s so much information out there about AI. It’s constantly changing. I totally understand why it all feels overwhelming for you.”
• “Every day, we see negative headlines and horror stories about AI. I know that it’s easy to feel afraid and nervous about how it’s going to impact you.”
• “There are so many things we don’t know about what AI will do in the coming years, from what new tasks it will learn to its impact on the job market and economy. It sounds like you’re feeling anxious because of how uncertain the future looks.”

2. Perspective: What feels new might not be

After you’ve gotten a better understanding of your client’s specific questions and concerns, you can make a better decision about what perspectives would be helpful to share.

AI has become a part of your daily life. The phrase “artificial intelligence” was first coined at Dartmouth in 1956. For decades, AI rarely dominated mainstream headlines and everyday conversations. But in the background, researchers and companies were making breakthroughs, especially in generative AI (gen AI), a type of AI that can create new content. Their work paved the way for large language models (LLMs), which can understand and generate human-like text, and generative pretrained transformers (GPTs), a family of LLMs developed by OpenAI.

On November 30, 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot built on an LLM called GPT-3.5. ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months. By comparison, it took TikTok nine months and Instagram two and a half years to reach the same mark.⁴

Today, almost everyone uses AI — but they often don’t realize it. In a Gallup poll of nearly 4,000 Americans, 99% of people had used at least one AI-enabled product in the past week, and 83% had used at least four. These products include streaming, social media, shopping, navigation, weather forecasting and personal virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri.

But when those same people were asked if they had used AI in the past week, half of them said no.⁵

Gen AI is embedded in everyday tasks like Internet searches, thanks to tools like Bing with ChatGPT and Google’s AI overviews, and emailing, thanks to tools like Copilot in Outlook and Gemini in Gmail. People are using gen AI for therapy and companionship, organization, learning and self-improvement, diet and exercise planning, creating travel itineraries and much more.⁶

Think about tech’s impact on individual tasks, not entire jobs. Historically, technology transforms individual jobs more than it decreases the overall number of jobs in the market. Take computers, for example. As a landmark MIT and Harvard study found, computers took over routine tasks that are time-consuming and manual, but they increased the need for non-routine tasks that require creativity or interacting with people. Companies either adjusted the jobs their employees were doing to focus on non-routine tasks or hired more people who had training in the non-routine tasks.⁷

This task-based (not job-based) paradigm is still used in labor economics today, and it can be applied to AI. OpenAI research indicates that 80% of the US workforce could have at least 10% of their tasks affected by GPTs and 19% could have at least 50% of their tasks affected.⁸

So, for individuals, the key is to focus on tasks. List the tasks AI can easily handle, then double-down on the ones it can’t — ones that require judgment, imagination and relationship-building, just to name a few — and keep learning so your job tilts toward work that only humans do best.

This “re-bundling” approach is key, and it may offer some reassurance. As the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) puts it, “Since occupations usually consist of performing a bundle of tasks not all of which may be easily automatable, the potential for automating entire occupations and workplaces may be much lower than suggested.”⁹ Many advisors are already using AI to re-bundle their jobs. They’re allowing AI to take over routine tasks so they can focus on non-routine, high-value tasks.

AI could be overhyped in the short-term and underestimated in the long-term. With new tech, companies tend to spend aggressively early on. It usually takes years for them to see returns. 

When we do eventually see the benefits of the tech, they’re often much bigger than we initially anticipated. This was true of the PC, Internet, mobile and cloud. Initial forecasts underestimated the market value of those technologies by a wide margin. 

AI’s long-term impact is even easier to underestimate because of how difficult it is to predict all the ways in which intelligence will create value. The bottom line is that AI is creating investment opportunities for long-term investors who know where to look.

Suggested conversation starters:

• “I can share some historical perspective on how disruptive technology affects the stock market, if you’d like.”
• “Are you curious about what technology has historically done to jobs?”
• “Would it be helpful to learn how you’re already using AI, maybe without even realizing it?”

3. Confidence: We’re approaching AI responsibly

There are three areas where you can help instill confidence in your clients, and they correspond with three of the major common concerns:

Their portfolio: Reassure clients that you’re following AI’s broad impact on the market, sectors and individual companies. Remind clients that their diversified portfolio was constructed to navigate large technological shifts. Highlight how staying disciplined through periods of significant transition and volatility has historically rewarded patient investors.

The job market: Reassure clients that your financial planning has helped prepare them to face potential challenges including layoffs. Explain that by building a robust emergency fund, diversifying income sources and planning for long-term financial security, you have helped them create a safety net. Emphasize that your ongoing support and strategic planning are designed to help them navigate uncertainties in the job market with confidence.

Your practice: Note that you keep an eye on technological advancements that impact advisors and clients. Explain that your technology policy starts and ends with the good of the client. As applicable, highlight how you are using AI to provide better service to your clients. Assure them that you prioritize their safety and privacy when using any tools, not just AI-enabled ones.

Suggested conversation starters:

• “Would you like to review how we built your portfolio to take advantage of technological disruptions without taking on too much risk?”
• “I know you’re nervous about how AI will affect your job. Should we talk about how our financial planning has helped prepare you for layoff and other challenges?”
• “Would it be helpful if I showed you how we keep your data secure and protect your privacy when using any tool, not just AI ones?”

4. Opportunity: Next steps

After building understanding and confidence, guide the conversation toward thoughtful consideration of AI’s potential implications for your client’s specific situation.

Consider whether modest portfolio adjustments might be appropriate, without overreacting to headlines. Explore whether there are specific sectors or industries the client is interested in that might merit deeper discussion about AI’s impact.

Evaluate whether the client should revisit career planning or retirement timing assumptions based on how AI might impact their industry. Discuss potential opportunities for the client to develop new skills that complement rather than compete with AI technologies.

For business owner clients, consider discussing how AI might affect their industry and whether this warrants reconsideration of business succession or retirement timelines.

Have an AI plan in place for your own practice. Think about how you can use AI to better serve your clients, starting by developing an AI strategy that aligns with your business strategy. Hone your own AI skills as the technology continues to improve.

Suggested conversation starters:

• “Are there specific companies, sectors or industries you’re curious about investing in because of AI?”
• “Would you like to discuss how AI might influence your career or retirement plans?”
• “Have you considered how you can be using AI in the business you own?”

These conversations provide valuable opportunities to demonstrate your value and commitment to your clients. By following this framework, you could transform anxious questions into meaningful discussions that deepen engagement and make you the advisor of choice. Your role is not to take out your crystal ball and predict exactly how AI will evolve, but to help clients maintain perspective and discipline regardless of how this technology unfolds in the coming years.

¹ Pew Research Center, “U.S. Workers Are More Worried Than Hopeful About Future AI Use in the Workplace,” February 2025

² Gallup, “Americans' Trust in Media Remains at Trend Low,” October 2024

³ Gallup, “Americans Express Real Concerns About Artificial Intelligence,” August 2024

⁴ Reuters, “ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base - analyst note,” February 2023

5 Gallup, “Americans Use AI in Everyday Products Without Realizing It,” January 2025

⁶ Harvard Business Review, “How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025,” April 2025

⁷ Autor, Levy and Murnane, “The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change,” November 2003

⁸ Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models,” August 2023

⁹ OECD, “The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries,” June 2016