How Americans Feel About AI and Their Money

Tony Santillo is vice president of client experience and innovation at Northwestern Mutual.

No matter where you turn these days, it seems like almost everyone is talking about artificial intelligence. While AI isn’t new, generative AI is. And the possibilities are mind blowing—perhaps even a little scary.

When it comes to your money, generative AI could have a big impact. Perhaps not surprisingly, it appears younger folks are excited about the possibilities, while folks who are a little older are more skeptical. In our recent Planning & Progress survey, we asked people about the potential of AI impacting their financial lives.

Whether you’re all in or still have some reservations, AI is already here and expanding rapidly. I’d like to talk a little about how we’re approaching it at Northwestern Mutual.

What is AI?

AI falls into two categories: classic (traditional) and generative.

Classical AI has been around for some time. It’s basically a sophisticated algorithm that can make predictions based on a defined set of rules. Every time you say, “Hey Siri” or “Alexa,” you are using classical AI to help solve a problem or answer a question.

Generative AI is new. Unlike classical AI, generative AI can learn and create original work. Because of its ability, generative AI has tremendous potential. It’s also, understandably, something many people are approaching with caution. You’ve likely heard of or even played with a type of generative AI if you’ve heard of ChatGPT.

We use AI to help transform our processes in ways that benefit our clients

At Northwestern Mutual, we have been using classical AI for some time. For instance, we leverage it to underwrite life insurance policies. This allows us to make a faster decision than we could in the past. We also use it to detect fraud and to make investing decisions.

We’re already using generative AI across the company, too, and we’re working on how to leverage it more broadly—especially in advisor–client relationships. I’d like to take a moment to share a little more about how we’re thinking about generative AI and how it fits into our business.

We believe human-to-human conversations are required

Human interaction, particularly around something as personal as your money, is so important. And as we move into a world with more and more AI-generated content, human interaction will only be more valuable. We want to use AI to enhance our people’s ability to focus on the people whom we work with and to personalize everyone’s experience as much as possible. We want it to improve the way you experience Northwestern Mutual.

One example of a way we’re bringing that to life is when your advisor first starts working with you. The relationship typically gets going with a conversion. Your advisor gets to know you—really learning what’s important to you. They may even help you uncover things you weren’t thinking about. These are often powerful conversations. Today, advisors have to focus on both listening and taking notes.

In the future, advisors will be able to use AI to capture the conversation—freeing the advisor to focus even more completely on the people they’re talking with. It can free the advisor to pay attention to the entire conversation with their ears and eyes. Then, the AI can summarize what was discussed and maybe take a first pass at creating a financial plan based on the conversation. The goal is to free the advisor to spend even more time focused on clients.

We believe in strict scrutiny of AI tools

Our clients trust us with their money and some of their most sensitive information. Preserving that trust is paramount. That’s why it’s critical for us to ensure we have strict AI governance capabilities to automate and control workflows.

Each dataset, source and scoring system must have its own governance structure, and it must be crafted intelligently—prioritizing accuracy, security, privacy, ethics and inclusiveness. We aren’t just focused on being an industry leader with generative AI. We’re equally focused on leading in our stewardship of it in order to safeguard the trust we’ve built with our clients.

That’s why we have established an AI council within the company to oversee the implementation of generative AI tools and platforms. The council is designed to ensure we implement all proofs of concepts we ultimately decide to test, both ethically and safely.

And finally, humans are still a part of any output. This is especially true when it comes to generative AI. It’s sort of like self-driving cars: More and more cars can drive pretty much on their own, but the car still has a steering wheel because sometimes human reaction and judgment is still needed. AI can help simplify building a financial plan. But an advisor’s human connection and understanding can help to tailor the plan to get it right for each person.

We believe in meeting clients where they are most comfortable

At Northwestern Mutual, we tend to have lifelong relationships with clients. That means we have clients who are very young and who are much older. Our clients are at different stages of their journeys with technology and with AI. While some AI processes happen in the background—often in ways clients may not realize—we believe that from a technology perspective, it’s important to meet clients where they are and allow them to engage in whatever way makes them most comfortable.

We believe AI has the potential to improve our lives

Technology has drastically improved our lives. I think about AI a bit like other big technological shifts. Forty years ago, most people didn’t have computers. Today, it’s hard to imagine what work or life would be like without a computer. These tools free us and enable new experiences that we had never imagined. The same will be true with generative AI, which is why we’re focused on building it in ways that help our people do their jobs better.

I think that’s what I’m most excited about. It will improve the impact Northwestern Mutual and our advisors are able to have with clients. And we’re just getting started.