Financial Advisors Urged to Move Beyond Level 1 AI Adoption

3 articles · Updated · Wealth Management · Aug 13

Most financial advisors are still approaching AI as a tool-selection problem, when the bigger issue is redesigning how their firms work, according to author Michael Hyatt.
Hyatt said firms that ignore AI risk becoming “casualties,” arguing the technology amplifies existing habits and rewards advisors who adopt it with curiosity, persistence and resilience.
Early use cases already fit many firms’ compliance limits, including process documentation, meeting summaries, marketing drafts, research organization and other repetitive administrative work that does not require sensitive client data.
Hyatt’s 6-level model suggests most advisors remain stuck at Levels 1 or 2—using AI mainly for search or prompting—well short of more integrated workflows where capacity gains become meaningful.
The broader pitch is that AI should expand advisor capacity, not replace human judgment: firms that strip out low-value tasks can spend more time on trust, empathy and client relationships.