2025's LawDeb Pensions Debate talks AI

Last night, the LawDeb Pensions team were thrilled to host over 300 clients and industry peers for the 21st annual LawDeb Debate. Hosted by Trustee Director Daniel Barlow and chaired by LawDeb Pensions Managing Director Sankar Mahalingham, this year's hot topic was: ‘this House believes that artificial intelligence will revolutionise the pensions industry.’ 

Guests were introduced to the debate by an alarmingly convincing AI-generated Sankar who then handed over to the real Sankar to introduce our speakers. Speaking for the motion, Amédée Levillain and Alexandra Tomlinson argued that artificial intelligence will lead to the ultimate democratisation of pensions, painting artificial intelligence as the drawbridge to cross to the castle of pensions knowledge. Alex in particular argued that artificial intelligence has already started to revolutionise the pensions industry, stating that tasks which would have taken days can now be done in minutes by AI, which is a revolution in itself. 

Speaking against the motion, Gareth Henty and Cyprian Njamma, FIA highlighted the personal touch to pensions that only humans can bring; they argued that despite advances in artificial intelligence, true empathy remains a human skill and one that the pensions industry relies upon. Gareth drew upon the argument that AI is bound to make mistakes (for example when Chat GPT informed him that the best way to make a cheesy pizza is with ‘non toxic glue’), while Cyprian recounted helping his mother with her retirement plans, reminding us of the human thoughtfulness that the pensions industry intrinsically requires. 

There were fantastic arguments from both side, prompting many great questions from the floor. The indicative vote, taken before the debate saw 32% against the motion, this swung to 68% in the final vote. Clearly some very convincing arguments from our speakers. Based on the results it seems that pensions professionals are not yet convinced of the AI revolution. 

Thank you to our excellent speakers for debating so thoughtfully and thank you to our guests for joining us in person and online. View the recording and see some photos from the event below. Click on any image to open the gallery and scroll through.