The use of artificial intelligence in US wealth management firms continues to gather pace.
This morning (August 24) The AmeriFlex Group has announced that it has developed an AI-powered prospecting program that can build comprehensive profiles of hundreds of financial advisor practices in the time it once took to assess a single firm.
The Las Vegas-based hybrid RIA says that its program, called Scout, is currently being piloted in five key markets and is expected to roll out nationally in 2027.
Built in part using Anthropic's Claude AI platform, Scout draws on a combination of public and proprietary data sources to identify financial advisors who may be approaching a succession event flagging candidates for The AmeriFlex Group's team of succession specialists before the conversation even begins.
"Scout is a gold miner that quickly and efficiently identifies financial advisors who are at or near succession in their practices," said Thomas Goodson, founder and CEO of The AmeriFlex Group. "By developing this program, we can move more quickly to bring together advisors entering the final stage of their careers with advisors hungry for additional growth, while focusing on the critical cultural aspects of these connections."
The program reflects growing urgency across the wealth management industry around advisor succession.
With a large cohort of experienced advisors expected to retire over the next decade, firms have increasingly looked to technology to identify, engage, and support those transitions. Where traditional outreach meant researching one firm at a time, Scout compresses that process, surfacing actionable intelligence at a scale that would otherwise require a significantly larger team.
"The scale of the succession crisis required a different approach and a new set of solutions," said Jesse Kurrasch, chief operating officer of The AmeriFlex Group. "This tool enables our team to help more advisors, scale our business and ensure we have the time and resources to give these advisors the support they rightfully expect as they consider the final chapter in their working lives."
The firm said it expects to add 100 advisors to its platform over the next 24 months, in part by leveraging Scout alongside other growth initiatives. In the first half of 2026, The AmeriFlex Group already welcomed 18 advisors representing more than $1.7 billion in total client assets.
InvestmentNews recently reported on research suggesting AI tools could double advisor productivity by automating time-intensive back-office tasks.
Recently, WealthReach rolled out an AI-powered referral engine to systematize advisor growth strategies, Feathery raised $30 million to power AI-driven RIA operations, and RightCapital claimed an industry first with an AI agent for financial planning.
Anthropic, the company whose Claude platform powers the AmeriFlex tool, has had financial services in its sights in recent months.
It has also been linked with new AI-powered advisor tech from NewEdge Capital, an ‘all-in’ bet on AI by Janus Henderson, and an AI-enabled wealth management platform by Rockefeller.
Anthropic has also been making the rounds with bankers and investors in San Francisco ahead of what could be the largest IPO on record. Investors expect Anthropic could float at a valuation of approximately $2 trillion, according to CNBC, which would top SpaceX's $85.7 billion offering in June 2026.
But Anthropic's prospectus is expected to flag a headwind that will be familiar to any firm deploying AI at scale: public backlash. According to CNBC, CFO Krishna Rao has been fielding investor questions about competition, margin pressure from open-source models, and what happens if data center construction slows.
A Gallup survey published in May 2026 found seven in 10 Americans opposed AI data center construction in their area, with close to half strongly opposed.
Regulated prediction markets for retail brokerage clients is the latest sign that prediction markets are entering the mainstream investing toolkit.
Wealth Consulting Group, Coastline and Maridea report fresh capital, acquisitions and asset growth as advisor M&A keeps climbing.
Carson Group's Dani Fava, Jason Pereira of Woodgate Financial, and Sally George of Convergency Partners led the raise as the growth-tech startup builds out its AI platform and leadership bench.
New teams from William Blair, Ameriprise and UBS bring more than $560 million in combined client assets to the firm's employee and independent channels.
Regulators this year approved UBS Bank USA’s conversion to a nationally chartered bank.
Northern Trust’s Ken Lassner shows advisors how to convert volatility into after-tax portfolio gains
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income