Carson Group and Raymond James announced the launch of AI-driven technology on Thursday designed to assist their advisors, a growing trend across financial services.
Carson Group announced the launch of its new AI assistant, Steve, describing it as an “intelligent, conversational assistant designed to save advisors time by analyzing vast amounts of data in real time and providing rapid answers to questions that create efficiency and drive business results.”
Raymond James, meanwhile, enhanced its AI capabilities with what it said was the immediate firmwide rollout of AI-generated meeting summaries by Zoom for advisors and institutional businesses.
Carson Group’s Steve
“Our new AI assistant showcases how much value in innovation, efficiency and growth tools we are bringing to advisors at Carson Group,” Dani Fava, Chief Strategy Officer of Carson Group, said in a news release.
“This chatbot isn’t just about faster answers—it’s about smarter conversations, deeper understanding and delivering real value at scale. Our goal with Steve AI is to make expert content truly on-demand for advisors. We’re reducing friction, accelerating onboarding and letting advisors focus on what they do best—building client relationships.”
She added, “Steve is the first AI tool developed by Carson Group, and we were able to do so because we own our proprietary data.”
The new AI assistant is trained using the information in Carson’s digital systems and is expected to save the average advisor about five minutes per search.
The new chatbot is also expected to “enable advisors to double the number of households they can serve over the next five years,” the firm said.
The official launch was on April 30, following a test period during the first quarter, Sarah Stormberg, VP, Product Strategy, at Carson Group, told WSR.
Feedback from Carson Group-affiliated advisors has been positive so far.
“Advisors and their teams are amazed by the accuracy of the responses, saying it’s already saving them time searching for content,” according to Stormberg.
Advisors’ initial comments also included, “When you open it for the first time, the quick walk through is super easy to understand and getting started is a breeze!” she said.
Another advisor liked the fact that Steve “gives you a written response in addition to sources and related content,” she said.
Stormberg added that another advisor said, “I haven’t been able to break it yet – it has answered all of my test questions accurately and has provided the correct related information.”
Steve was named after Steve Synowicki, Director of Training at Carson Group, Stormberg noted. “Synowicki and his team have curated a robust training center that helps Partners navigate all the tools and resources available to Carson Partners,” she said.
Those tools include proprietary tools Carson has developed, including ones that she said “leverage integration with Custodians like Schwab and Fidelity.”
Steve is available to all Carson Group partners and their teams, in addition to all Carson Group stakeholders, she added.
Raymond James’ Zoom AI Companion Rollout
Meanwhile, Zoom AI Companion meeting summaries enable hosts to automatically generate and share detailed, AI-generated summaries of their meetings, Raymond James said in its announcement.
The new capability “strengthens Raymond James’ AI leadership by delivering significant time savings across business units and will integrate seamlessly with proprietary advisor applications, including RJ CRM and Opportunities,” the firm said.
“In conjunction with our internally developed AI tools, innovations from strategic technology providers like Zoom enable us to deliver substantial value to financial advisors, institutional businesses, and their clients, expanding service capabilities and ultimately saving them time,” according to Andy Zolper, the firm’s Chief Information Officer.
“AI Companion meeting summaries will be a game changer for capturing highlights and follow-up actions, empowering users to focus solely on meaningful conversation during meetings,” he said in a press release.
Recent innovations by the firm included predictive machine learning in Advisor Access and AI Search, which it said “uses generative AI to provide quick, tailored answers from the firm’s internal knowledge base.”
The Zoom meeting summary capability comes after what Raymond James said was a “rigorous operational and governance review, as well as a successful four-month pilot period involving both advisors and associates.”
Raymond James invests $975 million each year to improve technology, it said. The firm’s total client assets are $1.54 trillion.
Carson Group manages more than $42 billion in assets and serves over 53,000 client families among its advisory network of over 150 partner offices, including more than 50 Carson Wealth locations, it said.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
