Celent has released a new report titled The Cognitive Advisor: Using AI to Deliver Advice at Scale. The report was written by William Trout, senior analyst in Celent’s Wealth Management practice.

Machine learning enhancements are freeing the advisor from rote tasks and rendering him more of an overseer and less of a project manager. As his focus shifts from administration to client, and advice becomes more customized, the advisor will gain pricing power.

In the report The Cognitive Advisor: Using AI to Deliver Advice at Scale, Celent explores the degree to which artificial intelligence (AI) represents a logical next step in the development of automated advice, helping to scale not just compliance, risk, and asset management functions but also the thinking and reach of the human advisor.

From the advisor standpoint, artificial intelligence can address challenges related to discovery and cognitive limits. The discovery problem for the advisor relates to deciding what to explore or investigate. How can the advisor address issues that are not even on his radar? Automating discovery through data mining and pattern recognition can help flag or highlight areas that the human advisor would not otherwise uncover.

Enhanced discovery in itself does not translate into greater efficiency or scale. Technology is needed to channel the most relevant information to the advisor and map or render it digestible. A use case can be as specific as a client meeting or as broad as the learning process itself.

“Eliminating cognitive overload and enhancing discovery are intertwined processes. Tackling them through automation is a major step towards breaking tradeoffs between customization and scale. The end result will be a shift in momentum from the robot back to the human advisor,” says Trout.