Adoption
The survey results indicate widespread adoption of AI within the UK pensions industry, with 87% of respondents confirming that AI is being used by their firm.
However, the survey also revealed that more than three quarters of respondents (77%) currently used AI in only 1%-5% of their services. That said, in the next 10 years, use of AI in the pensions sector is expected to increase significantly. 41% of the SPP’s 2025 AI Survey respondents stated that they expect AI to be used in 10-20% of their services, 41% expect it to be used in up to 50% of their services and the remaining 18% expect it to be used in more than 50% of their services.
Benefits
The main benefits of AI include an increase in speed, highlighted by almost two thirds (61%) of respondents and a reduction in costs, identified by more than a quarter (26%) of respondents. Further anticipated benefits include the additional insight that AI could bring in terms of analysing patterns within large data sets and identifying unusual data (allowing problems to be detected and addressed at an early stage), scalability and increased personalisation.
Risks
The survey asked SPP members to identify the biggest risks of using AI and almost two thirds (65%) said that hallucination/inaccuracy was the biggest risk. 10% identified bias, 6% said data protection/cyber security and 19% said that there is no significant risk if AI is managed well.
Barriers
The survey also revealed a number of barriers which may impact widespread adoption of AI across the pensions industry. More than a third (39%) of respondents identified organisational nervousness as the biggest barrier, 16% identified customer concerns, 13% identified the cost of adoption and integration of AI and 3% cited regulatory restrictions. It is also worth noting that nearly a third (29%) of respondents said that there is no significant barrier to the widespread adoption of AI.
Matthew Giles, SPP Council member and a Partner at Squire Patton Boggs said: “The survey results are very helpful in terms of testing the mood of the pensions industry on AI. We have obtained a helpful snapshot of the extent to which AI is being utilised today and also a forecast of how adoption will increase in the future. Although the survey highlights risks and barriers to more widespread use of AI, it also identifies clearly identifiable benefits and overall indicates considerable enthusiasm for the technology within the pensions sector.”
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