AI AND YOUR JOB · CHECKED OCT 2026
Will AI replace financial analysts?
Not the whole job. AI already summarizes earnings calls, builds Excel charts, drafts DCF and comps models and can even propose stock ratings, but analysts still own the assumptions, the final recommendation and the client conversation. BLS expects financial analyst jobs to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 29,500 openings a year.
- Tasks from the US Labor Department's O*NET
- Pay and outlook from BLS
- 13 sources
AI EXPOSURE TODAY
Medium
AI does 2 and helps with 8 of 14 core tasks. 4 are still human.
- AI does it (2)
- AI helps (8)
- Still human (4)
Task by task: what AI can do today
The core tasks of the job, from the US Labor Department's O*NET profile (13-2051.00). Each verdict links to its evidence.
| Task | Verdict | Tools doing it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Read earnings calls, filings and financial news to track companies and industries | AI does this today | AlphaSense | Research platforms now attach an AI summary to every earnings call transcript and answer questions with a citation to the exact passage, so your reading turns into spot checks. [5] |
| Draw charts and graphs in spreadsheets for reports | AI does this today | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Copilot in Excel builds charts, PivotTables and dashboards from a plain request and keeps them linked to the source data, so you mostly review and tidy them. [3] |
| Build financial models to solve problems or test the impact of a deal | AI helps, you check | Microsoft 365 Copilot, Claude | AI can now edit a workbook directly and fill model templates, and OpenAI hired former bankers to teach its models this exact work, but the drivers and assumptions behind the numbers are still your call. [3][4][6] |
| Value or price securities | AI helps, you check | Claude | Claude ships ready made skills for discounted cash flow and comparable company analysis that pull live data from sources like LSEG and Moody's, yet growth rates, discount rates and peer choices need an analyst's judgment. [4] |
| Compare the quality of different securities in one industry | AI helps, you check | AlphaSense Generative Grid | Tools can run the same questions across a whole peer set and return a table of KPIs and outliers, but deciding which company is actually better placed is analysis, not extraction. [5] |
| Forecast business, industry or economic conditions from financial data | AI helps, you check | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Copilot surfaces trends and outliers in your data quickly, but a forecast is a view you have to defend, so the call stays with you. [3] |
| Prepare pitch books, data packs and other deal materials | AI helps, you check | Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot | AI can draft company teasers, due diligence data packs and pitch decks, the grunt work banks hope to automate first, but every figure in a deal document has to be tied back and signed off. [4][6] |
| Write and present reports on economic trends, companies and industries | AI helps, you check | Claude, ChatGPT | AI drafts earnings notes and initiating coverage reports, but FINRA says its content rules apply whether a person or a tool wrote the piece, and presenting it to a committee is still you. [4][7] |
| Recommend investments and when to make them | AI helps, you check | ChatGPT | A J.P. Morgan AI Research study found GPT 4 stock ratings built on fundamentals beat analyst ratings in a 2022 to 2024 test of S&P 500 stocks, but a published recommendation still needs a named person behind it under FINRA's supervision rules. [13][7] |
| Advise clients on raising, restructuring or refinancing debt and capital | Still human | None | Capital decisions turn on negotiation, lender relationships and a client's appetite for risk, which you learn by talking with them. |
| Analyze struggling companies and recommend remedies | AI helps, you check | 9fin | Credit platforms like 9fin flag distressed signals and compare covenant terms across filings with AI workflow tools, but working out what is fixable with management, creditors and lawyers is still your job. [12] |
| Visit company facilities to judge them as investments | Still human | None | Walking a plant or store and reading how managers answer hard questions is fieldwork no model can do from a data feed. |
| Develop client relationships and work with bankers, lawyers and accountants on deals | Still human | None | Deals get done through trust and coordination among people with different stakes. |
| Supervise, train and mentor junior team members | Still human | None | Teaching juniors how to think about a deal, and checking the AI output they hand in, is a senior analyst's job. |
The job market for financial analysts
Source: Financial Analysts. BLS expects this job to grow 7% over 2025 to 2035.
Where financial analysts can move next
GROWING · $166,570
Financial manager
Running a finance team means owning budgets, controls and decisions that someone must be accountable for, and your modeling and forecasting skills are the usual path in. Most get there after several years as an analyst. [9]
Median pay $166,570 · outlook +10%GROWING · $101,860
Management analyst
Consultants who fix how organizations run spend their days interviewing staff and selling change, and your ability to build a business case with numbers carries straight over. [10]
Median pay $101,860 · outlook +10%GROWING · $105,070
Personal financial advisor
Advising families on retirement and savings rests on trust built over years, and your investment knowledge transfers. BLS expects slow growth, so building a client base takes time. [11]
Median pay $105,070 · outlook +1%AI tools changing this job
Our honest reviews of the tools named above.
Top picks: The Best AI Tools for Accountants · The Best AI Presentation Maker
FINANCIAL ANALYST AI PROOF KIT
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Want to see what a kit looks like? See the bookkeeper kit.
Quick questions
Will AI replace financial analysts?
Not as a profession, but the entry level work is changing fast. BLS still projects 7% job growth from 2025 to 2035 and about 29,500 openings a year [2]. At the same time, OpenAI enlisted more than 100 former investment bankers to teach its models to build financial models, and experts quoted by Fortune expect junior roles to be transformed rather than eliminated [6].
Can AI build a DCF or a full financial model?
It can draft one. Anthropic's Claude for Financial Services includes skills for discounted cash flow models, comparable company analysis and earnings analyses, released as a preview [4]. Copilot in Excel can change a workbook directly, and Microsoft notes you stay in control of every change, so the assumptions and formulas still need your review [3].
What AI tools do financial analysts use in 2026?
Common picks are AlphaSense for AI summaries of earnings transcripts with cited answers [5], Copilot in Excel for charts, PivotTables and multi step edits [3], and Claude for Excel, which connects to data from providers such as LSEG and Moody's [4]. General chatbots like ChatGPT help with drafting, but should not be fed confidential deal data without your firm's approval.
Is financial analysis still a good career with AI?
Yes, for people who move past the spreadsheet grunt work. The median financial analyst earned $103,570 in 2025 [2], and financial managers, a common next step, are projected to grow 10% [9]. One economist quoted by Fortune expects 60% to 70% of the time analysts spend on lower level tasks to be automated within a year [6], so the value shifts to judgment and client work.
Are financial analysts allowed to use AI at work?
Usually yes, under the same rules as any other tool. FINRA told member firms in 2024 that its rules are technology neutral, so supervision and communication standards apply whether a person or AI produced the content [7]. In a CFA Institute survey, 85% of investment employers said the industry needs standards and ethical guidelines for AI [8].
Sources
Checked 2026-10-10. Verdicts are Leapscope's reading of these sources. We did not test these tools hands on for this page.
- Financial and Investment Analysts (13-2051.00), O*NET OnLine
- Financial Analysts, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Get started with Copilot in Excel, Microsoft Support
- Advancing Claude for Financial Services, Anthropic
- AI tools for earnings analysis, AlphaSense
- Sam Altman's OpenAI is coming for Wall Street's grunt workers as AI continues to transform the entry level, Fortune
- Regulatory Notice 24-09: Gen AI and large language models, FINRA
- New CFA Institute survey reveals industry wide need for standards and education on AI in investing, CFA Institute
- Financial Managers, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Management Analysts, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Personal Financial Advisors, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Restructuring advisors, 9fin
- AI in Investment Analysis: LLMs for Equity Stock Ratings, J.P. Morgan AI Research and Emory University (arXiv)
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