Shaping Wealth Launches New Advisor AI Support Tool

The advisor education and training firm Shaping Wealth has partnered with the technology development firm Alai Studios to create a new advisor-support tool called Lydia, designed to leverage artificial intelligence technology and behavioral finance insights to improve the way advisors engage with and serve their clients.

Lydia was designed as a “bulwark” against industry trends toward commoditization, according to the firms’ announcement. It does so by augmenting advisors’ capabilities across the key client service domains of emotional intelligence, decision-making, collaboration and coaching.

The announcement bills Lydia as an “always-on, meticulously trained companion” that is the “missing piece” for advisors struggling to achieve deeper client engagement.

Lydia currently engages advisors through three conversation pathways focused on navigating hard conversations, utilizing behavioral marketing, and measuring clients’ money status and happiness. More “conversational agents” will be developed over time, according to the firms.

The program remembers advisor identities and their interactions, according to the announcement, enabling continuous follow-up on advisors’ skill development and relationship building. Via Alai’s technology, it learns an advisor’s distinct learning style.

“Lydia is an expression of our core belief at Alai that artificial intelligence can and should amplify human brilliance,” said Andrew Smith Lewis, founder and CEO of Alai Studios. “Now we’re excited to share Lydia and help advisors develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their clients, all while delivering an exceptional service.”

Shaping Wealth’s founder, Brian Portnoy, said his firm is focused on transforming financial guidance’s “essence” through behavioral science, arguing Lydia embodies this mission by leveraging AI “not just to inform but also to genuinely enrich the advisor-client dynamic.”

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