Mariner to use AI workforce equal to 700 employees

Overland Park, Kansas–based registered investment adviser Mariner signed a five-year enterprise contract with Humanity Labs last month to deploy an AI workforce equal to roughly 700 full-time employees. The firm plans to separate client-facing work into an ‘experience’ layer and routine operational work into an AI-run ‘execution’ layer.

The AI workers will take on manual tasks including account openings, client onboarding, compliance reviews, reporting and billing. The systems will also surface potential sales opportunities. Activity handled by the AI will feed into a proprietary operational data layer the parties call Mariner Organizational General Intelligence, which they say will accumulate information about workflows and client interactions over time.

Humanity bills its full-time equivalent AI workers at about $50,000 per year. That rate would imply an annual cost in the tens of millions for a 700-FTE deployment, though both companies declined to confirm the exact commercial terms. Mariner described the agreement as a growth initiative designed to expand capacity as the firm scales and said it does not discuss vendor contracts.

Humanity’s chief executive, Andrei Pop, described the company’s product as a staffed remote team rather than a standalone tool, saying the AI workers ‘occupy seats and roles’ and ‘onboard and take over stuff that you give it’ as they learn and improve. Pop added that technology should relieve employees of repetitive data work so human staff can focus on client relationships and complex advice.

Mariner leadership framed the project as a reorganization of work. Chief Executive Marty Bicknell said the arrangement breaks ‘a ceiling’ on the traditional growth model of adding clients and hiring more people. Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer Cheryl Bicknell called the contract ‘a commitment to our people’ and said moving routine tasks to the AI workforce will create more opportunities for staff to focus on relationship-building and complex client work.

Stephen Caruso, director of wealth management at consultancy Cerulli Associates, said the firms’ claim to be the first RIA to adopt an AI workforce at enterprise scale is difficult to verify and pointed to data alignment as a central challenge for firms seeking productivity gains from AI.

Mariner and its affiliates oversee nearly $630 billion in client assets after recent minority investments by Neuberger Berman and earlier backing from Leonard Green & Partners. Humanity has attracted investment from Google Ventures and Vestigo Ventures, a firm co-founded by former LPL CEO Mark Casady.

Mariner said it will continue hiring as it grows and described the AI workforce as additive rather than a straight replacement for staff. The firm also said the initiative will create new career paths for associates who will work alongside the AI systems. Both companies declined further interviews and cited confidentiality in declining to disclose detailed contractual terms.