Morgan Stanley is working with OpenAI, the group behind ChatGPT, to develop an artificial intelligence resource for its financial advisors.
Morgan Stanley describes the planned technology as an “internal-facing service” that will mine the company’s in-house content—research reports, analyst notes, comparative asset models, etc.—to help advisors better serve their clients.
Jeff McMillan, head of analytics, data, and innovation at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, says the firm had evaluated hundreds of start-ups and technology vendors to develop an artificial intelligence product that at once benefits advisors and improves the client experience while also adhering to compliance requirements.
Among all those considered, “OpenAI stands out,” McMillan says in a statement.
“The work we are doing with them will allow us to bring our expansive intellectual capital into the hands of our financial advisors in seconds,” he says. “It will be like having our chief investment strategist, chief global economist, and global equities strategist on call for every financial advisor 24/7.”
The application positions Morgan Stanley as an early adopter of GPT-4, the latest version of OpenAI’s language software. Morgan Stanley says it is the only company in wealth management working with OpenAI to receive early access to its products.
The technology is currently in testing with Morgan Stanley advisors, with a full rollout planned for late spring or early summer, McMillan tells Barron’s Advisor.
The artificial intelligence application, which Morgan Stanley has yet to name, draws exclusively on the firm’s own materials, meaning that it’s cordoned off from the public internet.
But Morgan Stanley’s own body of content is vast. The company expects the new AI application to help advisors to quickly find the most relevant materials to produce better recommendations for clients.
“It allows advisors to instantaneously source and analyze our intellectual capital in ways that would have historically been quite time consuming,” McMillan says. “It’s essentially like having the smartest experts at Morgan Stanley on speed dial.”
So how would the AI tool help advisors in practice? McMillan offers a few examples. An advisor might ask it how best to explain to clients the difference between an earnings recession and an economic recession. More basically, an advisor might ask the program what a Morgan Stanley analyst’s outlook is for the S&P 500, and why.
Other potential queries, per McMillan:
“What are Morgan Stanley’s rates on CDs and what are some alternative products available to my clients who are seeking yield?”
“Tell me the top-rated technology stocks by our research department, and compare and contrast the risk and reward for each.”
Morgan Stanley puts any new technology through rigorous compliance testing before rolling it out widely across the firm, and the AI application is no different. Morgan Stanley is developing its AI application in concert with the firm’s legal, risk, and compliance teams to incorporate “appropriate safeguards and controls,” McMillan says.
There isn’t a client-facing side to the new technology, which McMillan describes as “an internal research tool for our advisors,” though it is very much intended to directly inform their work with clients.
“[T]o be clear,” he says, “this is designed to help our advisors more efficiently and intelligently communicate with their clients, so it is involved with client interactions, albeit through our advisors.”
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