Wealth management firms say artificial intelligence could eventually improve nearly every part of their businesses. But when advisors were asked what their firms are doing to get AI ready, the top answer was simple: teaching employees about AI, according to Financial Planning’s latest AI readiness survey. The survey, which asked 250 advisors across the industry about AI readiness at their firms, found that nearly half (44%) are working to educate employees about AI, outpacing efforts to modernize their tech stacks or create AI use policies. Top firms are taking the lead on AI education. At LPL Financial and Merrill — together accounting for nearly 1 in 5 active advisors — leadership is rolling out a variety of platforms to help advisors understand how AI can be applied in their day-to-day work and explore its potential. “Our goal is to get you up to speed as fast as possible on two things,” said Inez Louzonis, head of platforms and capabilities at Merrill. “One, the tools we have now, you need to start using them and becoming proficient in them, and getting your data in them, so that as we are building artificial intelligence on top of these tools, they really benefit you,” Louzonis said. “And then the second part is just unlocking their mind to think about all the potentials. We even say to them, ‘We can’t come up with all of the different use cases and ideas on our own in a box. We need you to start thinking about it.'” Currently, AI is often being used within wealth firms to streamline routine tasks and cut down on administrative work. For example, LPL has partnered with Jump, an AI assistant designed for financial advisors offering notetaking and other tools to help advisors save time around client meetings. Stephen Chien, vice president of AI business strategy at LPL, said that these tools not only save advisors 30 to 60 minutes per a meeting, but they also free up advisors to more deeply listen to clients during meetings. “If they don’t have to scribble notes in the middle of a meeting, they can actually pay attention better in the client meeting and deliver a more personalized experience,” Chien said. “So it’s not just saving time, but delivering a better end-client experience and helping them to grow their business faster.” With a variety of more and less tech-savvy advisors at LPL, Chien said the company takes a wide-ranging approach when it comes to educating its advisors on the AI tools available to them. The basis of that education comes in the form of online modules, which explain the technology, its current uses and best practices around skills like prompt engineering.