HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — The roughly 5,700 attendees at last week's Future Proof festival confronted a familiar tension: artificial intelligence is reshaping wealth management, but its real-world impact remains uneven. Executives from major firms and fintech startups used the conference to showcase new AI tools, while also cautioning that adoption is still in its early stages.
Ralph Haberli, CEO of Edelman Financial Engines, described AI as "a revolution in many respects," citing "a ton of excitement" and "a ton of new capabilities." But he acknowledged that the technology can be disorienting for advisors. Clients increasingly arrive at meetings having consulted AI chatbots like Claude or ChatGPT for asset allocation and tax-planning ideas. Haberli likened this to the WebMD phenomenon: "They've gotten the view on asset allocation, tax planning from Claude or ChatGPT or others, and it feels a lot like the WebMD search that we all used to do," he said. "And then we go to the doctor and we'd say, 'well, I clearly have XYZ illness' and then she or he would say, 'well, actually, let me look at you. No'."
The conference's biggest announcement was Anthropic's launch of Claude for Financial Advisors, backed by partners including Dynasty Financial and Charles Schwab. Edelman Financial Engines was not among the launch partners, but Haberli revealed that his firm has worked closely with Anthropic for about six months. "We've taken the approach of, it's not AI just to AI, but it's AI to have a tangible impact," he said, pointing to AI-powered meeting recording, meeting preparation, and workflow improvements. "We've heard from multiple of our best planners that describe just in the last 6 months how their practice and how they work is radically different and radically better," he added.
Vanguard, a launch partner, is integrating its model portfolios into Claude. Eve Cout, head of advisor solutions at Vanguard, explained: "We are working with [Anthropic] to serve up our asset allocation, our portfolio construction through our model portfolios. Our models are used by advisors as they think about a starting point, as you know, as they start to build portfolios." Cout emphasized that the goal is to make Vanguard's data accessible where advisors already work. "We love the idea of working with Anthropic and Claude to just kind of serve up this information where advisors are looking for it," she said.
Yet a Vanguard survey released at the conference found that advisors are mostly using AI for administrative tasks like drafting emails, leaving deeper applications untapped. "The true unlock is not just using AI and using the tool, it's how that enables them to spend more time with clients doing the things that clients actually value, which is behavioral coaching, financial planning, building that trust, that empathy in the moments that matter," Cout said.
Fintechs also showcased new capabilities. WealthStream, which provides advice intelligence, integrated OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 voice model into its Practice product, designed to help advisors prepare for client conversations. CEO Dan Daum said, "We really apply AI to improve the quality of advice."
But not everyone is rushing to embrace AI. Kevin Knull, CEO of TaxStatus, which supplies IRS-sourced data to advisors and accountants, argued that data quality is the foundation. "AI doesn't matter if you don't have good data," he said. "As much as people are so focused on which AI model they're using and how they're using it, they really need to start with the data first, because if you're using AI on top of bad data, it magnifies the problem."
The contrasting approaches highlight a broader industry debate: whether AI's value lies in efficiency gains or in enabling deeper client relationships. As Haberli noted, the key is keeping AI "tangible and real," with measurable before-and-after improvements. For now, the industry is still "scratching the surface," according to Vanguard's research.
