The rapid development of AI technology is complicating planning in family offices, just as it is in other industries.
“I’m hearing a lot of uncertainty,” says Mohsen Ghazi, partner at Ashurst Perkins Coie, where he advises family offices. “People are saying, ‘I’m thinking about setting up my kids, but I don’t know what their future will look like. I don’t know whether they’ll have jobs.’”
Family office employees are also wondering how AI will affect them — presenting an additional challenge as family offices move to adopt in their operations.
“We are definitely seeing a range of reactions from people. I see people who are exhausted by the pace. Some people are completely overwhelmed and feeling vulnerable because they don’t know where to start with embracing these new tools,” says Stephanie Notarianni, managing director of technology and integration at Pitcairn. “Other people are energized by it. Some employees are ready for change and expecting access to these tools. They’re helping us create momentum around a change.”
Strategies to help employees adapt include helping them reframe their uncertainty, and providing them with tools that will help them use the technology effectively. Notarianni says Pitcairn has used both these approaches.
“At a recent firmwide Town Hall, we connected AI directly to a growth mindset and challenged employees at every level of experience to move past the question, ‘Am I good at this?’ and instead ask, ‘What could this help me become better at doing?’” Notarianni says. “We have paired that encouragement with approved tools, clear guidance around privacy and confidential information, and practical opportunities to experiment. Our goal is not to create a firm of AI experts, but to build the structure, safety, and community that allow curious learners to feel supported enough to embrace AI with confidence.”
Reframing anxiety
Rather than worrying about whether they can master AI technology, Notarianni says Pitcairn has tried to get employees to figure out how AI can help them master something new.
“In our broader employee base, we are seeing feelings of uncertainty and vulnerability around this,” Notarianni says. “They may wonder, Do I have the skills to be good at AI? Am I too far behind, because I see my peers doing new, cool things that I don’t yet know how to do? So we’ve really been focused on encouraging people to have a growth mindset, to really experience what AI can help them do.”
The hope is that this will also help alleviate concerns about job security.
“The family office business is a relationship-centric, trust-driven business,” Notarianni says. “How can we allow our employees to spend more time across the kitchen table from a family member talking about what matters, and eliminate the sort of administrative minutiae that they otherwise had to do themselves?”
The importance of policy and tools
Creating some structure for employees to start using AI is also helpful.
Pitcairn created Pitcairn AI Labs, a cross-functional cohort of employees who receive deeper training, test tools, share what they are learning, and help identify meaningful opportunities within their own departments.
“Members are also expected to bring what they learn back to their teams, so capability is distributed throughout the organization rather than concentrated in the IT Department,” Notarianni says. “We have tried to translate a growth mindset philosophy into practical action rather than simply encouraging employees to ‘embrace AI.’”
Guardrails are important as well.
“Start at the policy level: what’s permissible, what’s not, where are our hard lines that we don’t want to cross as it relates to PII and sensitive data or approved platforms.” Notarianni says. “I’m seeing a lot of firms saying that if it’s not an enterprise toolset, you are not permitted to use it. With an enterprise toolset, firms are paying for more security and encryption and no model training.”
Pitcairn has also given employees tools to guide their use.
“We have, in the tools and platforms we’re using, tried to push out as many prefabbed skills and tools as possible,” Notarianni says. “One example is a prompt creator that’s using the correct methodology. Employees have a tendency to ask AI a very simple question, like ‘Tell me about estate planning.’ The prompt engineer we have created can expand on that and provide a more robust prompt that will get a better outcome. Or if an employee is going to create a presentation in the AI platform, they can launch a skill that will take into account our full branding guidelines.”
Providing some guardrails is also important for employees who are enthusiastic about adopting AI.
“With the people that are super excited about embracing the tools, you want to make sure they’re not being cavalier and putting information into a system that isn’t an enterprise application,” Notarianni says. “You have to help people balance that excitement with risk mitigation.”