OpenAI’s ChatGPT debuted in November 2022 and quickly hit 100 million users, becoming the fastest-growing application in internet history, according to the International Monetary Fund.
“It’s important for everybody to understand how fast this (AI) is going to change,” said Eric Schmidt, the former CEO and chairman of Google, in 2023.
While that seems intimidating, acting like it’s not happening won’t make AI go away. Instead, try AI in incremental steps so it can be both accessible and useful for you. Reach out to other financial advisors who use AI to learn about some of its time-saving benefits as well as how to use it appropriately.
Timothy Daniel Clairmont, MSFS, a 14-year MDRT member said, “Now a year and a half in for me using ChatGPT, I would say the best thing that anybody can do to get started is don’t wait.”
“AI can be so useful in our businesses,” agreed Carla Brown, FPFS, CFP, a seven-year MDRT member. “Probably the first place to start is around content creation. That’s where we use it the most in our practice.”
Creating content with AI
AI can write first drafts of business strategies, such as for referrals. You also can use ChatGPT for emails, blog posts, suggestions for podcast topics and webinar scripts.
For example, ChatGPT can be used to improve something you’ve already written. “I’m a decent writer. I’ve written a couple of books, but I don’t pretend to be perfect at anything,” said Clairmont, a Top of the Table member from Lake Oswego, Oregon, USA. “However, you can cut and paste something you’ve written into AI and say, ‘Make this better,’ and it’ll reiterate it just like that. It’s amazing how much I use it now on a daily basis just to make things better,” he said.
ChatGPT can also give you a first draft, so you don’t have to start with a blank page. “I’ve spent 15 to 20 minutes trying to craft that perfect email,” said Brandon J. Wellman, CFP, RICP, a six-year MDRT member and Court of the Table member from Springfield, Illinois, USA. “AI has allowed me to plug in my prompt, tell it what kind of tone I want, give it keywords, and it comes out with something that with some tweaking is usable for a client. What was once a 20-minute process to write an email is now only a five-minute process.”
AI precautions
Know AI’s limits and take precautions. With some types of AI, such as the free version of ChatGPT, what you paste into it becomes available for AI to scrape and use for a global public audience. There is a paid version of ChatGPT, though, where the information isn’t used publicly.
“In the free version, don’t put personal, sensitive client information into it,” Clairmont said. “Anything you put into AI you should be prepared to share with the rest of the world.”
The responses from AI also may not be accurate or ethical. It will make up information if it doesn’t have the answer, or if AI took information from an unreliable or biased source, it provides content that reflects that. It also may give you American spellings for words, even though you live in another country, pointed out Brown, who is a Top of the Table member from Cuddington, England, UK.
“I don’t think AI, at this point in time, is the best resource for counting on the accuracy of a lot of really detailed information,” Clairmont said. “AI is best used to try to figure out more about generalizations and feelings, and sort of overall, broad-scope aspects that would be hard to argue against. But if you’re looking for specific facts, I would encourage you to fact-check anything specifically that AI might put out.”
“You’ve got to take complete responsibility for every piece of communication that leaves your office,” Brown said.
AI’s future
“We’re only at the start of where AI is going at the moment, and it’s already saving us in our practice a huge amount of time because it means that we can focus on the things that need a bit more thinking about, that need human intervention,” Brown said. “People are always looking for financial advice. People want to work with people. They’re looking for somebody that they know, like and trust. And it’s about having that emotional connection. AI doesn’t do emotion.”
For more about AI
- Watch “Time-saving tips: MDRT members discuss AI”
- Read “Artificial intelligence: Friend or foe?”(Available in nine languages)
- Read “Slash your writing time: Tap in to the power of ChatGPT”
- Watch “AI tips for client communication”
