Human financial advisers continue to shape final investment decisions more than artificial intelligence, even as AI grows as a research tool, according to HSBC.
The bank's survey of around 10,000 affluent and high-net-worth individuals across 10 markets found that 62% use financial professionals or institutions as their main source of investment ideas.
About 37% said human experts had the greatest influence on their final choices, three times as many as those who cited AI.
"Clients are increasingly using AI to explore their options, but when it comes to making investment decisions, they value judgement, context, and accountability from a trusted wealth adviser," said Barry O'Byrne, chief executive of international wealth and premier banking at HSBC.
The findings point to AI settling into a supporting role, helping clients research and weigh options rather than make the final call.
Younger investors are leading its adoption.
Some 86% of Generation Z respondents and 82% of millennials said they used AI for financial and investment decisions.
The two groups use it differently, however.
HSBC said Generation Z predominantly used AI to identify potential risks and avoid mistakes, while millennials used it mainly to accelerate research and analysis.
The technology also appears to be changing how investors behave.
Nearly half of respondents said AI had made them more confident and willing to take calculated risks, a shift the bank said was strongest among younger cohorts.
There were marked regional differences too.
HSBC found the impact of AI was larger in India, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Hong Kong, with more measured responses in the United States, Singapore, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
The bank said reassurance and strategic expertise were the main reasons clients still preferred human advisers for final decisions.
Advisers, it noted, could apply judgement, validate information, spot errors in AI outputs and interpret complex data in a way the technology could not yet match.
The results suggest the wealth industry is moving towards a hybrid model, in which clients lean on AI for speed and breadth while still turning to people for accountability and trust.
That balance may shift as the technology matures and younger, AI-native investors accumulate more wealth.
For now, though, the human touch remains central to how the affluent commit their money.
The survey adds to a growing body of evidence that AI is reshaping the research process across financial services without yet displacing the professionals at the heart of it.
For wealth managers, the message is that AI looks more like a tool to enhance the adviser relationship than an immediate threat to it.
How firms combine the two, pairing the efficiency of AI with the judgement of experienced advisers, is likely to become a key competitive battleground in the years ahead.
