The adviser edge in an AI world

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Ask CoPilot, Claude or ChatGPT how much you should save for retirement, and you’ll have an answer in seconds. Ask it whether you can afford to help your daughter buy her first home without delaying your retirement. Whether retiring at 64 as planned still feels right, or whether you’ll still feel a sense of purpose once you leave work. 

Those questions aren’t simply financial. They’re deeply personal. They require context, empathy and human judgement, qualities that technology alone cannot provide.

As artificial intelligence becomes part of everyday life, it’s natural to ask what this means for financial advice. Will clients increasingly turn to AI? Or does the rise of AI actually reinforce the value of human advice? 

Standard Life’s research, conducted throughout 2025 found that people were far more comfortable using AI to explore lifestyle questions than they were using it for personal financial decisions.

Almost half (49%) of adults said they had never used AI for advice of any kind. Among those who had, adoption was strongest in areas such as lifestyle advice (26%), health information (23%) and career advice (16%). A further 16% used AI to better understand broader financial topics, such as inflation or the wider economy. 

When it came to personal financial advice, including retirement planning, savings, investments and mortgages, only 14% said they had used AI. That distinction is telling. It suggests people are comfortable using AI to access information, but remain more cautious when the decisions become personal, long-term and financially significant. 

Perhaps even more revealing than who used AI was what people did next. Among those who sought advice from AI, only one in four (25%) relied solely on the answer they received. Instead, most looked for reassurance elsewhere. Two in five (43%) carried out further online research, almost a third (32%) discussed the advice with family or friends, and 30% went on to speak to a financial adviser. Rather than replacing human advice, AI often appeared to become the starting point for further exploration. 

This pattern became even more pronounced among people who already had an ongoing relationship with a financial adviser. Among regularly advised clients who used AI, 61% returned to their adviser for additional guidance. That paints an interesting picture of how technology is being incorporated into financial decision-making. Rather than viewing AI and advice as competing alternatives, many people appear to be using them together. AI helps them explore possibilities, understand unfamiliar concepts or prepare questions. Their adviser helps them interpret that information in the context of their own circumstances, temperament, priorities and future goals.
 

The changing role of advice

Information has never been more accessible. Clients can compare products, model scenarios and generate explanations in seconds. Yet retirement planning has never been solely about accessing information. It’s about balancing competing priorities. Deciding whether to retire earlier or work longer. Supporting children while protecting your own future. Adapting plans when careers, health or family circumstances change. These are decisions shaped as much by values, relationships, and human understanding as they are by numbers.

That’s where advisers will continue to make the greatest difference. The adviser edge lies in helping clients interpret that information, challenge assumptions, navigate uncertainty and make decisions they feel confident living with over the long term. 

From my perspective, the relationship between adviser and client reminds me of that between a personal trainer and client. The value of the trainer isn’t simply knowledge. It’s accountability, encouragement and helping people stay committed to a long-term goal. Financial advice is increasingly similar. Our Bringing retirement into focus research has reinforced that for me. Year after year it shows that improving retirement outcomes is about more than providing information. People often understand the importance of planning, yet translating good intentions into meaningful, sustainable action remains the challenge. That’s where advisers have an increasingly important role to play, helping clients stay engaged, build confidence and adapt their plans as life unfolds.

At Standard Life, we’ve long believed that retirement planning starts with better conversations. That’s why we’ve invested in tools and content designed to help clients reflect on what feeling ready for retirement means to them, from our Retirement Chats series to the Second Life questionnaire. Rather than focusing solely on numbers, they prompt people to consider the wider picture, including their goals, relationships and mindset for life after full-time work. 

Their purpose is to help clients arrive better prepared for effective conversations with their adviser. By helping clients think more deeply about what retirement means to them before they sit down with an adviser, conversations can become more meaningful, more personal and ultimately more valuable. AI has the potential to play a similar role. It can help people explore ideas and prepare questions. But our research suggests that when decisions really matter, people continue to seek the reassurance, perspective and judgement that only a trusted adviser can provide.

Technology will continue to evolve, and advisers who embrace it will strengthen their edge. But I believe lasting value won’t come from having access to better technology alone. It will come from helping clients build retirement readiness across the financial, social and mindset dimensions that our retirement readiness framework highlights. AI can support those conversations, but helping clients turn information into confident, meaningful action remains a uniquely human role.