Morningstar has announced a new AI assistant that the company has embedded within Direct Advisory Suite, its flagship advisor platform.
It’s currently in beta and available only to a subset of 4,000 advisors out of the more than 180,000 currently using the platform.
Initial rollout will target U.S.-based Direct Advisory Suite users in increasing numbers over time, with broader availability for U.S. and Canadian clients expected throughout 2026.
The AI assistant, which is made up of a number of AI agents, is designed to begin the transformation of the platform into a more interactive AI-first advisor workspace and experience that streamlines research, meeting preparation and client proposals. It’s also already voice-enabled with access through Morningstar’s web pages, with no need for a separate application.
It integrates investment research, portfolio analysis and proposal generation within a single environment, drawing on Morningstar’s data and research to surface insights and automate multi-step tasks for faster client-ready output.
“It isn’t just the technology; making the data AI-ready is important for us, and numbers can actually be a little bit more challenging. We have to do a lot of work to make it accurate and safe for use with [large language] models,” said Thomas Aviles, head of advisor software at Morningstar.
Using natural-language requests, advisors can move from client setup to portfolio analysis to finished reports without switching tools, with the AI carrying context across each stage to reduce clicks and learning curves, he said.
The assistant supports tasks including identifying Morningstar rating changes, preparing meeting briefs, conducting research and portfolio analysis, and converting client statements into actionable proposals. Aviles reiterated that client data is never used to train AI models, and the platform maintains enterprise-grade security.
“All the security, compliance and data requirements are table stakes for us but deserve the same amount of rigor as building out new cutting-edge features,” he said in response to a question about how Morningstar is tackling the process of building out guardrails.
This marks the end of Morningstar’s generative AI chatbot, Mo, which was introduced in April 2023 on stage by Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor.
“Mo’s not gone, he’s just evolving,” said Aviles noting that the new agents advance the firm’s AI strategy to become the intelligence layer for investing.
Those advisors attending the T3 Conference in New Orleans can see a demonstration of the new assistant at 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 12.
