Nearly half of financial professionals say their clients are now using artificial intelligence to push back on the advice they receive - a finding that underscores a fundamental shift in the advisor-client dynamic, according to new data from Pacific Life.
The Newport Beach, California-based insurer surveyed 113 financial professionals focused on affluent clients during its 2026 Educational Symposium, held September 22–25 in Huntington Beach. The results, released October 27, 2026, reveal that 43 percent of respondents say their clients are using AI to validate or challenge financial recommendations.
Another 42 percent say AI tools and digital assistants are where clients most often conduct financial research before engaging with a professional, ranking ahead of friends and family referrals (21 percent), search engines and traditional financial news sources (16 percent), social media (16 percent), and podcasts or short-form video (5 percent).
The survey adds texture to an ongoing debate across the wealth management industry about whether AI is a threat to advisors, a client service tool, or both.
As InvestmentNews has reported, advisors are increasingly warm to AI for back-office tasks such as meeting summaries and CRM updates, but remain cautious about positioning the technology directly to clients.
The Pacific Life data suggest clients are not waiting for their advisors to make that call.
Twenty-one percent of respondents said clients are bringing inaccurate or misleading AI-generated information into advisory conversations - a dynamic that creates a new category of challenge for advisors who must now contend with correcting errors before they can deliver advice.
Fifteen percent of respondents said clients are arriving with more sophisticated questions and research, a finding that cuts both ways. More informed clients can make conversations more productive, but they can also arrive with confidence in faulty conclusions drawn from imprecise AI outputs.
"The average person has access to more financial information than ever, but more information does not necessarily mean greater clarity," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president and chief sales and marketing officer of Pacific Life's Consumer Markets business. "As AI becomes part of how people research and evaluate financial decisions, the role of the financial professional becomes increasingly important to help clients validate that information, put it into context, and understand what it means for their individual goals and circumstances."
That framing aligns with a broader pattern identified across the industry. As InvestmentNews has noted in its coverage of the Great Wealth Transfer, advisors who can serve as interpreters of complex, fast-moving information - rather than simply providers of it - are better positioned for the next phase of client relationships.
The survey findings carry added urgency given the generational change already underway in client books of business.
When asked how Millennial and Gen Z clients are altering the traditional advisory relationship, 28 percent of respondents said those clients expect faster, more digital engagement. Twenty-six percent said younger clients increasingly use AI or other digital tools to research or validate financial advice, while 15 percent said they are more skeptical of traditional financial advice than their predecessors.
That skepticism, paired with a preference for digital-first research, points to a client base that expects advisors to meet them where they are — not where the industry has historically been. Recent coverage from InvestmentNews found that AI financial advice is actually sparking demand for human advisors among Gen Z, suggesting the two forces are not necessarily in conflict, but the human advisor who fails to engage with the digital context may find themselves sidelined.
Beyond AI, the Pacific Life survey surfaces a parallel concern that has been building across the industry: families are not having wealth transfer conversations early enough, and advisors are paying the price.
Twenty-eight percent of respondents identified the absence of early family discussions about wealth and inheritance as the industry's biggest challenge in the great wealth transfer.
Twenty-five percent cited the difficulty of building relationships with heirs before assets move. Another 15 percent said heirs are unprepared to manage inherited wealth, and a further 15 percent pointed to differing financial priorities between generations.
The consequences are already showing up in planning conversations today. When asked which concern is causing clients to reconsider their financial plans most, 21 percent cited transferring wealth to the next generation - the single most selected response. Inflation and cost of living followed at 18 percent, tied with tax uncertainty, while geopolitical uncertainty was cited by 16 percent.
"The wealth transfer findings reinforce that successful planning starts well before assets change hands," Kennedy said. "For financial professionals, this means building relationships across generations and helping families start conversations about wealth and inheritance earlier."
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