By Tom Taulli

Bruce K. Lee, who is the CEO and founder of Keebeck Wealth Management, has made artificial intelligence (AI) a priority for his firm. He has invested in systems to help parse economic signals more efficiently, predict portfolio outcomes with greater accuracy, and anticipate client needs before they arise.

Of course, this reflects a major trend in the industry -- the accelerating adoption of AI as the technology becomes more powerful. According to the 2025 Investment Management Compliance Testing (IMCT) Survey, conducted by ACA Group, the Investment Adviser Association, and Yuter Compliance Consulting, the adoption of AI by financial advisor firms is over 40% and 25% are actively exploring the technology.

"AI isn't optional," says Lee. "It's foundational. Advisors who ignore AI are like taxi drivers ignoring Uber. This technology is changing how we analyze markets, personalize portfolios, and serve clients."

But this isn't to imply that the focus is on replacing employees. "AI is only as good as the human who applies it," he says. "The advisor's judgment, values, and experience still drive the final call. AI helps you see more. But you still have to know where to look."

In other words, advisors need to have fluency in AI. It is become one of the most important skill sets for success.

What you need to know. Adam Lawrence, who is a general manager at IBM Americas, often talks to leaders at financial services companies about training their staff for AI. He believes this training is critical for unlocking productivity gains. In fact, he considers this focus on education to be a major factor in IBM's own success with AI, which has resulted in more than $3.5 billion in productivity improvements since 2023.

According to Lawrence, here are some of the skills advisors should know:

   -- Data literacy and AI fundamentals: You should understand and interpret 
      AI-generated data insights. 
 
   -- Prompting: You need to know how to write effective prompts for large 
      language models (LLMs) to generate better reports or analyze text. 
 
   -- AI ethics and cybersecurity: You need to be well-versed in areas like 
      data privacy, responsible AI, mitigating algorithmic bias, and security 
      threats. 
 
   -- Understanding AI agents: They can help automate tedious and repetitive 
      tasks. "AI agents can help free the advisor's time to focus more on 
      strategic planning and building stronger client relationships," says 
      Michelle Feinstein, general manager of Global Financial Services 
      Solutions & Strategy at Salesforce. 

Resources. There are many books, courses, and YouTube videos about AI. But it can be tough to find the best resources to focus on.

Pete Foley, who is the CEO of ModelOp, has a framework for education and training. His firm includes clients such as Fidelity Investments and Finra.

Here's what he recommends:

   -- Read the standards and guidelines from industry websites. For example, 
      the CFP Board provides a generative AI Ethics Guide. There is also an AI 
      working grouping for financial planning. 
 
   -- Review the NIST AI Risk Mitigation Framework to prepare yourself for AI 
      risks. 
 
   -- Stay attuned to new AI legislation at the local, state, federal, and 
      international levels. In the U.S., the National Conference of State 
      Legislatures (NCSL) publishes and tracks new AI legislation. 

As for educational resources, there are excellent free online courses available. Here are some to consider:

   -- AI for Everyone (Coursera): The instructor is Andrew Ng, who is a 
      renowned AI expert and entrepreneur (he co-founded Coursera). His course 
      is six hours long, and it not only covers the fundamentals of AI, but 
      also how to apply the technology in your organization. 
 
   -- Elements of AI (University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn): There is an 
      introductory course about AI, including topics like machine learning and 
      neural networks. 
 
   -- Grow with Google: AI Essentials & Prompting Essentials: This six-hour 
      course shows how to design effective prompts by using a five-step 
      process. 
 
   -- IBM SkillsBuild: You will learn about basic topics of AI. There are also 
      exercises to build a simple application using IBM Watson Studio. 

Experience. A great way to learn about AI is to try out different applications. "Play with ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude," says Lee. "Run your portfolio reports through AI summarizers. Experiment with data visualization tools powered by machine learning. True, you'll make mistakes. But you'll learn fast too."

      Tom Taulli   ( @ttaulli ) is a freelance writer, author, and former broker. He is also the author of the book,  Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction . 

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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July 28, 2025 15:47 ET (19:47 GMT)

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