FSI Releases New Artificial Intelligence White Paper to Guide Adoption Across Financial Services

White paper presents a decision framework, calls for interoperability and outlines guiding principles for regulation

The Financial Services Institute (FSI) today released its latest white paper, Artificial Intelligence: Balancing Innovation, Interoperability, and Oversight, a comprehensive resource to help independent financial services firms responsibly and effectively adopt artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Its release comes on the heels of the third anniversary of ChatGPT’s initial release, which spurred the global AI revolution.

The white paper, developed by FSI’s AI Task Force, is a three-part guide offering a decision framework for AI use by firms, interoperability standards and practices to ensure AI tools work together across the industry, and a look at the regulatory and legislative landscape to guide policies and compliance. Its goal is to help firms strategically adopt and effectively implement AI into their business while navigating an evolving regulatory environment.

“As we continue to navigate this new AI era, it is essential that our industry has clear, practical policies and practices in place to adopt these tools responsibly and effectively,” said Dale Brown, FSI President & CEO. “AI has the potential to streamline processes and enhance the client experience, allowing our members to focus on what they do best – serving their clients. However, it is not without its risks and requires thoughtful implementation and collaboration across the independent financial services industry to achieve successful adoption and ensure investor protection. This white paper is the result of extensive industry collaboration with an eye to the future and a shared commitment to advancing the financial advice profession.”

Comprehensive Three-Part Guide

The white paper contains three major components:

1. Decision Framework for AI Use in Financial Services: A nine-factor scoring matrix that helps firms assess the opportunities, risks and impacts of an AI system.
2. AI Interoperability Measures and Standards: A four-stage interoperability maturity model that provides a roadmap for data standardization and shared industry standards to allow AI systems to collaborate securely across platforms and vendors.
3. AI Regulatory and Legislative Landscape: The paper establishes guiding principles for AI regulation, calling for a principles-based approach that fosters innovation while protecting investors.

Click here to download the white paper.

“AI will transform how firms operate and how advisors serve their clients,” said Bob Coppola, one of FSI’s AI Task Force’s group leads and Chief Technology Officer at Sanctuary Wealth, “but as the AI landscape rapidly evolves, as an industry we need to align on standards that support innovation, transparency, security and responsible use. This white paper reflects the shared expertise from firms and advisors across the independent financial services space and lays the foundation for scalable, consistent AI adoption.”

The white paper will be highlighted at FSI’s upcoming OneVoice conference, taking place February 2-4, 2026, in San Diego, Calif., where industry leaders will further examine the role of AI in independent financial services and explore cultivating an AI-first mindset.