AI won’t replace human advisors, but will revolutionize this key part of the job: Osaic

The AI tidal wave was front and center at Osaic’s 2026 NXT Conference in Boston this week, with the giant network of broker-dealers and registered investment advisors giving a glimpse into the technology’s big, bold future.

Shannon Reid, Osaic’s head of advisor growth and engagement, foresees a world where AI does a lot of the heavy lifting around investment research and even selection. “AI is going to make that so much easier and help [advisors] meet their obligations under Reg BI,” she told InvestmentNews. “Today, in order to do that, you have to say, ok, you’re a moderate investor, let’s just say I’m giving you a 60/40 portfolio, I have got to research a bunch of ETFs, mutual funds, then I have got to write down why I selected what I selected for you and make sure that that’s documented.”

“AI is going to do all of that for me and then, eventually, AI may actually be making the investment selections,” Reid added. “This is my opinion, but I think that that is sort of the next step in the evolution of how advisors might manage investments.”

Reed, who joined the company in January after almost 19 years at Raymond James, said that she doesn’t know when this will happen, but guesses that “it may be faster than any of us think.”

But the Osaic president is adamant that oversight, and ultimate decision making, must be in the hands of a human advisor. “You don’t want to leave the AI to just operate on its own, you have to have a human in the loop that knows the client that they are serving,” she explained. “This concept that AI can replace human advice, I really, fundamentally, don’t agree with.”

The AI revolution, as well as the potential benefits and risks it brings, are firmly in the spotlight at the moment. Last month Raymond James CEO Paul Shoukry said that AI is improving the relationship between advisors and clients but also acknowledged the technology’s limitations.

Nonetheless, AI is already reshaping the financial landscape. A recent survey from EY found that nearly half of global consumers are using AI to drive their savings and investment decisions.

It is also a growing presence in the advisory industry – during the NXT conference Osaic CEO Price told InvestmentNews that the company’s advisors are snapping up AI tools at a record pace.

While AI was a hot topic at NXT, there was also plenty of discussion about the importance of advisors building face-to-face communities within Osaic’s network.

During an interview at NXT, Osaic’s EVPs of advisor engagement and co-heads of the company’s independent channel, John DiMonda and Erinn Ford, described the company events that are bringing advisors together.

“We do these community meetups in some of the major markets around the country,” DiMonda explained, noting that advisors are often surprised by their newly-found ties. “We’re finding situations where these people literally live three houses away from somebody they literally didn’t even know that they were in the business and didn’t know they were with Osaic.”

Some 30 of these meetup events were held last year, with one recent New York City event attracting about 70 advisors. Osaic is planning 50 events this year.

“I think, with kind of the walls coming down, the advisors are now able to really see who is in their backyard,” said Ford. “We know that best practice, peer-to-peer sharing is an intangible exercise that leads to tangible results.”

Osaic is also noticing a lot of dealmaking amongst its advisor community. “More and more, as we go to these conferences and we go to some of our recognition trips this year, we’re hearing so much more about acquisition, everybody’s looking to buy practices,” DiMonda told InvestmentNews.

“There’s probably a lot more buyers than sellers right now in the marketplace, although that will change over time,” he said, adding that Osaic has effectively created an “internal marketplace” of 10,000 advisors.