Despite concerns about AI accuracy and regulation, firms say automation, cleaner data and unified workflows are key to scaling advice in 2026.
Advisors expect their edge by 2030 will come less from picking securities and more from earning trust in an online world and pairing human judgment with artificial intelligence, according to new research from Orion.
More than half of respondents in the wealth tech giant’s newest survey said the most successful future advisors will stand out by building trust amid “digital noise and synthetic content,” while 46% pointed to the ability to blend human insight with AI-powered intelligence.
Orion unveiled the findings from its fourth annual Advisor Wealthtech Survey at its Ascent 2026 conference in San Diego. The study, conducted in December 2025 with 571 advisors across channels, examines how firms are using technology, third-party expertise, and alternative investments to grow and scale in the coming year.
Not surprisingly, AI sits at the center of many of those plans. Orion found that about three-quarters of advisory firms are using AI in some form, though only 6% have moved into agentic workflows and 5% report cross-system AI integration. More than half of advisors are betting on AI and automation to be the biggest drivers of firm success in 2026 and beyond, even as concerns around accuracy, client trust, and regulatory expectations remain significant obstacles.
Looking at AI today, advisors see the most value in automating administrative work and preparing for client meetings, and they identify operational use cases such as compliance monitoring and data management as areas where AI could expand over time. At the same time, 49% cited worries about accuracy, transparency, or client trust as barriers to broader deployment. Another 42% pointed to uncertainty around compliance and regulation, and 37% said limited internal expertise or training is holding them back.
Orion CEO Natalie Wolfsen said the survey results reflect an industry that is experimenting with new tools while trying to keep client outcomes at the center, noting that advisors are “innovating, collaborating, and executing with a relentless focus on client outcomes.”
Not everyone is equally far along on that journey. While advisors on average say they are using 60% of their technology stack – with 54% of tools integrated – the firms that reported the strongest organic asset growth in 2025 tended to use a larger share of their tech. Looking ahead, half of advisors expect to increase technology budgets in 2026, by an average of 19%, and two-thirds said streamlining operations and reducing manual work would most “supercharge” their effectiveness.
Data remains another chokepoint. Only 3% of advisors said they have fully unified data across systems at their firm, while 60% said it is mostly unified but still requires manual steps. For 2026, 61% of firms named better tech integration and data use as a top strategic priority.
Advisors are also leaning on outside partners. Roughly seven in ten already use third-party tax optimization services, and more than half plan to adopt or expand that usage over the next five years. Respondents reported plans to ramp up direct indexing, unified managed household capabilities, SMAs, and UMAs as they look to personalize portfolios and offload implementation work.
Alternative investments are playing a growing role in those portfolios, particularly for larger households. Advisors reported higher allocations to alternatives as assets increase, with portfolios over $10 million holding close to one-tenth of assets in private equity, private credit, and real assets. High fees, client hesitancy around risk and transparency, and difficulty finding suitable opportunities for specific client profiles were cited as the biggest challenges.
Despite the operational and technology hurdles, advisor sentiment was overwhelmingly upbeat. Nine in ten respondents said they are using their strengths to improve client outcomes, 87% find purpose and meaning in their work, and 84% said helping clients reach financial goals contributes to their own happiness.
