Family Offices Name AI Their Top Investment Theme — But Portfolios Tell a Different Story

The gap between intention and allocation reveals both a generational opportunity and a cautionary tale for asset managers and wealth advisors.

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Two-thirds of the world's single family offices now rank artificial intelligence as their leading investment priority, according to J.P. Morgan Private Bank's 2026 Global Family Office Report, released in early February. The finding cements AI's position as the dominant thematic conviction across ultra-high-net-worth portfolios — ahead of healthcare innovation, infrastructure, and cybersecurity.

Yet beneath the headline figure lies a striking disconnect. While 65% of the 333 family offices surveyed across 30 countries expressed intent to prioritize AI-related investments, more than half currently have no exposure to growth equity or venture capital, and 79% have made no allocation to infrastructure — the very asset classes where much of the AI value chain is being built. The average net worth of respondents was $1.6 billion, making this not a question of access but of execution.

For asset managers, wealth advisors, and RIA platforms, the report raises a critical question: How does the industry help the world's most sophisticated private investors close the gap between conviction and capital deployment?

AI as Investment Thesis: Structural, Not Cyclical

The family office enthusiasm for AI is not a momentum trade. It reflects a structural view that artificial intelligence will reshape industries at a pace and scale comparable to the internet's emergence — and that the window for early positioning in private markets is narrowing.

William Sinclair, Global Co-Head of the Family Office Practice at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, described the evolving conversation in an interview with AdvisorHub: "We're having a lot of dialogue with families around how they think about investing in AI adjacent, where they don't have to pick which is going to be the winner — whether it's ChatGPT, Anthropic, any one of these big businesses."

That "picks-and-shovels" orientation is significant. Rather than making concentrated bets on individual AI companies, family offices are increasingly drawn to the infrastructure and services powering the AI ecosystem — semiconductors, data centers, power generation, and cooling systems. Christophe Aba, Head of International Investments & Advice at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, reinforced this in the report's press release: "To fully capture the AI opportunity, investors should look beyond the mega-cap leaders and focus on the enablers driving the supply chain."

This aligns with broader industry data. Cloud hyperscaler capital expenditures surged 65% in 2024 and were projected to grow another 54% through 2025, exceeding $332 billion, according to BNY Wealth's 2025 Investment Insights. The physical infrastructure underpinning AI — power, networking, real estate — is becoming an investable theme in its own right.

The Allocation Paradox: Ambition Without Execution

The J.P. Morgan report's most consequential finding may be the mismatch between stated intentions and portfolio reality. The global allocation snapshot tells the story clearly:

• Public equities: 38.4% — the largest single category, and where most current AI exposure resides through mega-cap technology holdings
• Private investments: 30.8% total, but within that, growth equity and venture capital account for just 3.3%, and infrastructure a mere 0.7%
• Fixed income: 14.8%
• Cash: 7.8%
• Hedge funds: 4.7%
• Crypto and digital assets: 0.4%

The implications are stark. Family offices that want to invest in AI's next chapter — the private, infrastructure-heavy phase — have almost no portfolio infrastructure to do so. More than 57% report zero exposure to growth equity and venture capital. Nearly four in five have nothing allocated to infrastructure, transportation, or real assets.

Natacha Minniti, Global Co-Head of J.P. Morgan's Family Office Practice, put it directly: "Not surprisingly, AI is the top investment theme, yet 57% of respondents have no exposure to growth and venture capital — where much of the innovation happens."

Why the gap persists. Several factors explain the disconnect. Family offices, despite their sophistication, face many of the same barriers that constrain RIAs and independent advisors: limited deal flow in private AI companies, long lockup periods in venture and growth equity (typically 7–10 years), high minimum commitments, and the specialized diligence capabilities required to evaluate early-stage technology investments. According to an Impact Wealth analysis, family offices prioritizing capital preservation typically limit direct AI exposure to 5–10% of investable assets, with the majority accessed through liquid public equities.

Why it may be closing. At the same time, the report signals momentum. Private equity leads planned allocation increases at 37% globally, with 2.5 times as many family offices adding private market exposure as reducing it. Kristin Kallergis Rowland, Global Head of Alternative Investments at J.P. Morgan, captured the shift: "Alternatives are no longer a tactical complement, but a strategic pillar."

Beyond AI: Risk, Hedging, and Portfolio Construction

The report's findings on risk management are equally revealing for wealth professionals. Geopolitics ranks as the top concern — cited by 64% of respondents — followed by inflation and trade policy. Yet the hedging response is muted.

A full 72% of family offices hold no gold, despite its traditional role as a geopolitical hedge. And 89% report zero exposure to cryptocurrencies, with average digital asset allocations sitting at 0.4% globally and Bitcoin specifically at 0.2%. This stands in contrast to the growing crypto allocations among financial advisors — a 2025 Bitwise and VettaFi survey found 32% of advisors allocated to crypto in client accounts, up from 22% the prior year.

The divergence suggests that family offices, despite their risk-on positioning in equities and alternatives, remain fundamentally conservative on assets without long institutional track records. Gold's underperformance as a hedge — spot prices fell sharply in recent weeks — may validate some of that skepticism, though the longer-term case remains debated.

Inflation-concerned family offices, however, are acting decisively within alternatives. Those ranking inflation as their primary risk allocate nearly 60% of capital to alternative assets — roughly 20 percentage points above the global average — with hedge funds and real estate as favored categories.

Implications for Asset Managers and the Wealth Channel

The J.P. Morgan report arrives at a moment when alternative asset managers — from Blackstone and KKR to mid-market specialists — are aggressively building distribution infrastructure targeting private wealth. The family office data reinforces both the opportunity and the challenge.

The opportunity is clear. Family offices collectively represent hundreds of billions in potential deployment toward AI-related private investments, infrastructure, and growth equity. Their stated intent to prioritize these themes, combined with current under-allocation, creates a significant addressable market for managers with the right products, access points, and educational capabilities.

The challenge is execution. Family offices, like RIAs, need more than product shelves. They need curated deal flow, operational support for complex fund structures, robust diligence frameworks, and — increasingly — advisory guidance on how to construct AI exposure across the technology stack. The report's finding that 80% of family offices outsource some aspect of portfolio management suggests that intermediaries, platforms, and OCIO providers will play a central role in translating AI conviction into deployed capital.

For RIA platforms and aggregators serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, the signal is unmistakable: advisors who can offer differentiated access to private AI and infrastructure investments will hold a competitive advantage. Those who treat AI as just another thematic equity sleeve risk missing the structural shift underway.

Looking Ahead

The J.P. Morgan report captures a pivotal moment for family offices and the broader wealth management ecosystem. AI has graduated from a speculative theme to a consensus strategic priority among the world's most affluent investors. But consensus on direction is not the same as action on allocation.

The next 12 to 18 months will reveal whether family offices — and the advisors and platforms that serve them — can bridge the gap between ambition and portfolio reality. The firms that succeed will likely be those offering not just product access but the infrastructure, education, and advisory architecture to help investors navigate a rapidly evolving opportunity set.

As Sinclair noted, the conversation is "evolving quickly." For asset managers and wealth advisors, the time to build that infrastructure is now — before the allocation gap closes and the competitive window narrows.

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Sources: J.P. Morgan Private Bank 2026 Global Family Office Report; BNY Wealth 2025 Investment Insights; Goldman Sachs 2025 Family Office Report; RBC and Campden Wealth North America Family Office Report 2025.