When the Report Gets Cheaper, Advice Must Get Better
Attending the Butch Dalisay dialogue on AI (which is how I will refer to it from now on), thankfully gave me something else to ponder outside the national budget brouhaha, which itself was AI-triggered too.
We spoke about writing. But I kept thinking about advice.
What happens when a machine can produce a clear report, a warm letter, or a sound-looking plan in seconds? For financial advisers, the question reaches well beyond writing style. It goes to the heart of what clients pay for.
Two tools discussed at the roundtable offer a useful guide: WordStar and the camera.
WordStar made it easier to put words on a page and change them. It reduced the work of typing, fixing, and moving text. AI can reduce similar work for an adviser. It can help turn rough notes into a draft. It can suggest simpler wording. It can help shape a long explanation into a short one.
These uses may save time. But a clean report is only one part of good advice. A client may say they want growth when what keeps them awake is the fear of losing a job. They may ask about returns while hiding a family debt. They may agree to a plan they do not fully understand. A smooth document will not solve those problems. Someone has to listen, ask, and check.
As writing gets cheaper, those human tasks may become a larger part of an adviser’s value. This does not mean AI has no role in the thinking. It means advisers must know which parts they can trust, which parts need review, and which choices remain theirs to make.
The WordStar analogy also warns us about a risk. AI does more than tidy words. It can offer a whole answer. An answer that sounds calm and complete may still rest on a wrong fact or a poor reading of the client’s needs. Clear language can make a weak idea feel safe.
That is why the adviser must be able to explain the plan without hiding behind the tool that helped draft it. Where did the facts come from? What was assumed? What could change the advice? Does the client understand the trade-offs?
The camera analogy adds a second lesson.
New tools can create new ways to serve people. A financial plan may become more than a document read once and filed away. It could become a guided conversation in which a client asks questions and explores choices in plain language.
That could make advice easier to understand. It could also give a false sense of certainty if the tool fails to show its limits. More interaction does not always mean more insight. The design must help clients see uncertainty, ask better questions, and know when they need a person.
There are also practical duties. Client details deserve care. Firms need clear rules about what information can enter an AI tool, who can see it, and who checks the output. Responsibility should be clear before a mistake happens.
Training matters too. Junior advisers need more than practice making polished reports. They need to learn how a plan is built, how to test a claim, and how to hear what a client is really asking. If AI does the first draft, a mentor can ask the junior adviser to challenge it. What is missing? Which claim needs proof? What would you ask the client next?
That turns a shortcut into a lesson. The business question is just as important. If clients can get a clear summary from many sources, advisers will need to make their value easier to see.
That value may lie in sound judgment, personal knowledge, steady guidance, and the willingness to take responsibility. Those qualities need proof through service. They cannot be claimed through better marketing alone.
WordStar reminds us that tools can reduce the effort of making a page. The camera reminds us that tools can change the form of the work. AI may do both for financial advice.
The aim should be simple: use the time saved to understand the client better.
A report can be made quickly. Trust still has to be earned, one clear and careful conversation at a time.
(Photo credit: Jaemark Tordecilla)
Dominic “Doc” Ligot is one of the leading voices in AI in the Philippines. Doc has been extensively cited in local and global media outlets including The Economist, Channel News Asia, South China Morning Post, Washington Post, and Agence France Presse. His award-winning work has been recognized and published by prestigious organizations such as NASA, Data.org, Digital Public Goods Alliance, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF.
If you need guidance or training in maximizing AI for your career or business, reach out to Doc via https://docligot.com.
