Cutting Through the Noise: T3 2026 Signals a New AI Standard for Advisors

New Orleans. Four days. A survey that put Mili at the top. And a breakout session that had advisors rethinking what an agentic AI strategy actually looks like.

T3 is the conference where wealth management makes up its mind about technology. Every year, Joel Bruckenstein and Bob Veres release the T3/Inside Information Software Survey, and firms use it to benchmark what they are running against what the industry has decided is worth running. The theme this year was From Noise to Knowledge, and with AI tools multiplying faster than most firms can evaluate them, it was exactly the right framing.

Our CEO, Chirag Gandhi and Head of Sales, Joe Holmes took the stage, together breaking down how forward-thinking firms are moving beyond isolated AI tools to a connected agent strategy that spans the entire wealth management stack.

The industry is past asking why. It is deep into how.

T3 opened this year with something it has never done before: a full day dedicated entirely to AI, called AI University. No prior AI or coding experience required. Every session was built around real workflows advisors could take back and use immediately. Joel Bruckenstein framed it simply: not theory, practical implementation.

Chirag and Joe took the stage as part of that day, walking through how to build a comprehensive agentic AI strategy for an advisory practice. The session went well beyond meeting notes and follow-ups: how AI agents handle forms, reduce administrative drag, connect workflows across the full stack, and compound in value the more of the practice they touch.

What the room revealed was a meaningful shift in where the advisor community is. Two years ago at T3, the early adopters were asking what AI could do. This year, the mainstream was asking how to implement it well: how to sequence a rollout, how to bring a team along, how to measure whether it is actually working. That shift matters. The debate is settled. The work has started.

‍

What advisors were actually looking for at booth 217

The booth was busy from day one. T3 draws advisors who take technology seriously, and this year the conversations had a different quality to them. Advisors had already seen several AI tools across the exhibit hall and were now doing the harder work of figuring out which ones were actually worth committing to.

The question we heard most often: what makes this different from everything else out there? The answer is the same one that shows up in how advisors use Mili every day. AI that handles one part of the workflow is useful. AI that handles prep, real-time notes, CRM update, follow-up drafting, and data sync across every system in the firm, end to end, with no manual steps in between, is a different category.

We also reconnected with advisors who had seen Mili at earlier stages and were reacting to how far the product had come. Those conversations are always the most grounding ones. They remind you what you have actually built.

What the T3 Survey told us about where trust lives

The 2026 T3/Inside Information Software Survey tracked 14+ solutions in the AI meeting solutions category. Mili topped user ratings with an average score of 8.69, against a vendor average of 7.26. The survey also found that Mili is strongest with the largest RIAs: firms managing over $100 million in AUM are two to three times more likely to use Mili than other vendors in the category.

The T3 survey is built from real advisor feedback over months of actual use. Being recognized as a Mighty Mite in that context, rated highest by the advisors using the product day to day, across a fast-moving and competitive category, is the kind of result that means much. 

The pattern around large RIAs is particularly telling. Firms managing significant AUM have complex workflows, multiple systems, and high standards for what AI needs to do before it earns a permanent place in the practice. They are deciding. And they are choosing Mili at two to three times the rate of alternatives in the category.

New Orleans sends you home with more than notes

T3 has always had a personality beyond the agenda. New Orleans gave that personality a setting that matched it. Evenings that turned booth conversations into real connections. New faces that became familiar ones quickly. The kind of week where you leave with more energy than you arrived with.

What we are taking home goes beyond a conference recap. It is a clearer picture of where the industry is: past the debate, into the build. Advisors who are serious about their practices are making real decisions about AI right now, and the firms that move with intention will define what the next few years look like for everyone else.

Thank you to Joel Bruckenstein, Bob Veres, and the entire T3 team for a week that actually moves the industry forward.

‍