AI Adoption Correlates With Higher Hiring And Advisor Productivity Across Wealth Management Industry, New Research From Astraeus Finds

(MENAFN- GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) Inaugural 2026 RIA Market Monitor establishes first industry-wide baseline for measuring meaningful AI adoption among registered investment advisors

NEW YORK, Sept. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wealth management firms with the highest rates of artificial intelligence adoption are hiring more employees and generating greater advisor productivity than their peers, according to wealth infrastructure provider Astraeus' inaugural 2026 RIA Market Monitor, a comprehensive analysis of AI adoption across the U.S. registered investment advisor industry.

Released today, the research was produced in collaboration with Pirker Partners, the strategic advisory firm focused on business and technology innovation in wealth management. Astraeus, using its proprietary AI platform, performed an analysis of Form ADV filings filed by 6,384 independent RIAs, marrying both the Part 1a and Part 2a into a single data asset. The research found that firms disclosing meaningful AI use are growing faster, adding more operational staff, and demonstrating stronger productivity metrics than firms that have not disclosed AI adoption.

In fact, despite some industry concerns that AI would eliminate jobs in wealth management, the opposite is happening. Among the report's most significant findings, researchers found no evidence that AI adoption is reducing employment across the wealth management industry. Firms disclosing AI use in regulatory filings increased total headcount by 15% between April 2025 and April 2026, compared with 8% growth among firms without AI disclosures. Among enterprise and large RIAs, non-advisory staffing increased by 14.2%, more than double the growth rate of advisor headcount.

"Much of the public conversation around AI assumes that the technology will reduce headcount, but that's not what we're seeing in the wealth management industry," said Jon Stevenson, Co-Founder and President of Astraeus. "The firms moving fastest with AI are hiring people, investing in operational infrastructure, and building the capabilities necessary to support more sophisticated businesses. At this stage, AI appears to be creating capacity rather than replacing it."

The research found that AI adoption remains concentrated among larger firms. While only 6% of independent RIAs disclosed AI use in their March 2026 ADV filings, those firms collectively manage approximately 11% of industry assets under management. Adoption rates rose significantly among larger firms, with 16% of RIAs managing between $5 billion and $25 billion in assets disclosing AI use, compared with 7% of mid-sized firms and 5% of smaller firms. Hybrid RIAs were also more likely than fee-only firms to disclose AI adoption.

"The industry narrative often suggests AI is everywhere, but the disclosure record paints a more nuanced picture," said Alois Pirker, Founder and CEO of Pirker Partners. "Meaningful adoption is occurring primarily among firms with the scale, resources, and operational complexity to invest in enterprise initiatives. This study provides a baseline for understanding where adoption actually stands and how it evolves over time."

The report also found that firms disclosing AI adoption demonstrated stronger advisor productivity metrics than their peers. Among enterprise and large RIAs, assets under management per advisor increased by 22% between April 2025 and April 2026, compared with 12% among comparable firms without AI disclosures. Researchers cautioned that AI should not yet be credited as the sole driver of performance, as firms adopting AI were already growing faster than their peers before widespread deployment of AI tools began.

Beyond productivity gains, the research found that AI adoption is most common within firms managing greater business and investment complexity. RIAs disclosing AI adoption were nearly twice as likely to offer private equity investments and more than three times as likely to offer private credit solutions. Adopters were also more likely to offer tax-optimized portfolios and direct indexing capabilities.

Despite widespread discussion of AI-assisted investing, the report found that most disclosed AI use cases remain operational in nature. Nearly half of firms identified AI applications related to administrative efficiency, including meeting summaries, document generation, workflow management, and CRM updates. By contrast, only 4% reported using AI as a direct input into investment decisions, while nearly 40% explicitly stated that AI does not make investment decisions.

Researchers also found that regulatory disclosures likely understate the true level of AI adoption across the industry. Forty-two percent of AI-related disclosures focused primarily on risks, 55% balanced risks and benefits, and only 4% emphasized benefits. The findings suggest many firms are discussing AI through a compliance and regulatory lens rather than as a business capability.

"One of the most important conclusions from the research is that disclosures should be viewed as a floor rather than a scorecard for AI adoption," said Andrew Lasky, Head of GTM and Strategy at Astraeus. "The firms that disclose are communicating under a legal standard of accuracy. That makes the data especially valuable for understanding how firms are thinking about AI, even though actual usage almost certainly extends beyond what appears in public filings."

The 2026 RIA Market Monitor analyzed March 2026 filings as a baseline measurement period and acknowledges that adoption has likely accelerated since those disclosures were submitted. Astraeus and Pirker Partners intend to update the report annually to track changes in AI adoption, productivity, hiring trends, disclosure practices and industry performance.

The full report is available from Astraeus, and members of the media may request complimentary access to the complete findings.

About Astraeus

Astraeus is the AI-native infrastructure company for wealth management based in New York City. The platform unifies a firm's data, rules, relationships, permissions and workflows into a governed semantic model that works across its existing technology environment. This gives RIAs, broker-dealers, private banks, multi-family offices and other financial institutions a consistent foundation for client intelligence, advisor workflows, compliance, investment research, portfolio operations and AI-agent orchestration. Unlike point solutions or traditional data aggregation platforms, Astraeus models how each firm actually operates, making information usable, auditable and actionable without requiring firms to replace existing systems.

About Pirker Partners

Pirker Partners is a strategic advisory firm that supports wealth management organizations and financial technology companies through strategic counsel, market intelligence and thought leadership focused on business and technology innovation. The firm serves as a platform for dialogue among industry leaders navigating the evolution of wealth management and financial services.

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