Jittery investors continue to punish stocks of companies that may or may not face disruption from artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last week it was software firms<\/a>, then insurance brokers<\/a>.\u00a0Now, it\u2019s financial brokerages that offer people planning advice \u2014 the likes of Charles Schwab, Raymond James, and Ameriprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n The latest source of fear is a new AI tool from a startup called Altruist, which promises<\/a> to automate tax planning.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new AI application from Altruist is said to ingest documents like tax forms, pay stubs and notes, and spit out tax planning advice \u2014 all traditionally functions of a financial advisor.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe AI is reducing the cost of intelligence,\u201d said Thomas Shuster, research director at IDC Financial Insights.\u00a0\u201cWhen intelligence gets cheaper, the margins shift within the ecosystem. And so it is by definition, I think, highly disruptive.\u201d<\/p>\n So which companies might get walloped? Sean Dunlop, director of financial services at Morningstar, said it\u2019s hard to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInvestors have been looking to see what firms they think might be exposed to AI disruption, and that has been pretty wide ranging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not clear firms are facing a serious threat at all, in part because we\u2019ve seen this movie before. Financial advisors have offered automated options for over a decade<\/a>, but clients haven\u2019t used them much, said Dunlop.\u00a0<\/p>\n