Earlier this year, the government held a conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI) as Rishi Sunak sought to position himself as the go-to political ‘Tech Bro’, and this country as one at the vanguard of embracing this technology.

Following on from that, I – like many, people no doubt – have been trying to get my head around what AI might mean for our sector, for the advice we give, the way we interact and process our business, and ultimately wondering whether AI might actually signal the death of later life advice in a person-to-person format.

I was asked specifically about AI at a recent ‘Breakfast with Stuart’ meeting, and just what might it mean for all of us involved in later life lending/advice.

From a technology point of view, there’s no doubting that ‘brave new worlds’ are there to be grasped and, certainly for many areas of business, the introduction of AI is a game-changer which will have some far-reaching consequences.

When I think of the later life lending sector however, AI doesn’t really mean Artificial Intelligence to me, it actually should mean Adviser Intelligence, because there seems little point in reaching for those ‘brave new worlds’ when, from a technology point of view, many stakeholders are struggling to make the present work.

I am not a luddite by any stretch of the imagination, and you only need to look at the technology-focused tools and services that Air has worked on and brought to market, the latest of which is our Later Life Lending Navigator tool, to know that we ‘get’ technology and the difference it could, and should, make to advisers’ lives.

However, as mentioned, when it comes to AI and its integration into our later life lending process, we are certainly aware of its ever-emerging power, and we’re looking at what might benefit our members in this area. But, we also need to be cognisant of the customers we serve, and indeed the advisers who serve them.

What do I mean by this? Well, let’s simply consider the average age of the later life lending customer – currently in their 70s – and, by the same token, what about the average age of the adviser serving them? I would say, on average, in their 50s and 60s.

Are we suggesting that an AI-focused advice service is what those customers want, or indeed what those advisers need? At the moment, I don’t think so, and there is a danger here that we aim for a tech-driven process that is nowhere near what is required by either party.

I’ve seen some incredible ‘pieces of kit’ over the years when it comes to tech which, quite frankly, seemed to require a PhD in advanced nuclear fusion, or something similar, in order to understand them or what they were trying to do. The user interface of these systems seemed to have been designed without any sort of human involvement considered, and again, we have to ask, what use is this tech?

Here’s an example for those within the sector. What would undoubtedly help advisers is a system running from a laptop which listened to the adviser-client conversation, which took that information and collated it; which used that information in a factfind; which credit scored the client as they spoke; which instructed a surveyor and the valuation; which filled out the application and forwarded it to the lender; which proceeded the case as the adviser left that client; and which ultimately delivered the offer 24 hours later.

That is not rocket science by any stretch of the imagination, and the somewhat galling point of all this, is that this technology has existed for a number of years, and yet we as an industry are still somewhat reticent to take these opportunities, to truly utilise the technology that exists now and to make it work for both our businesses and, most importantly, the consumers we are seeing.

Because, the fact of the matter, is that later life advice remains a people business. Consumers want to see advisers and want to deal with them, but they would also like to see some of the technology they use/interact with in their daily lives used by advisers, because they recognise the benefits for all in doing so.

That’s why we need to grasp the short-term benefits of tech, before we get too bogged down in a future technology that doesn’t feel right for our sector, and doesn’t feel necessary for those who want the advice and those who deliver it.

There are plenty of tech-based improvements to be grabbed right now, but AI isn’t one of them. Let’s use our Adviser Intelligence instead to acknowledge where improvements can be made, how tech can help us deliver them, and how we can use it to keep continuously improving the outcomes for consumers, day-after-day, and year-after-year.

Stuart Wilson is chairman at Air Club