It is a deliberate choice the discount brokerage is making as a long-term vision of staying relevant in an industry which is big on automation.
“…we’ve intentionally held back on enabling AI-driven order placement,” Kamath said, adding that “in a future where everything is automated, trust and infrastructure will be our only real moats”.
Kamath believes that humanity is at the brink of a massive shift where investing, trading, banking, and payments will increasingly happen through custom AI-powered apps built by users themselves, simply by typing natural language instructions.
In such a future, Kamath sees brokers risking themselves to be reduced to “pipes” — the invisible infrastructure connecting these AI tools to exchanges and clearing systems.
“The only way to stay relevant is to ensure we’re the best pipe: fast, efficient, reliable, and invisible when it matters,” Kamath explained in a candid note reflecting on how tools like ChatGPT and Claude are changing the game. Instead of rushing to introduce AI-based trading, Kamath said, highlighting that Zerodha’s tech team has focused obsessively on removing backend bottlenecks, making systems faster, scalable, and ready for a future dominated by user-built interfaces.”That’s why, over the years, K and the tech team have been obsessively making our systems faster, more scalable, and future-ready. Even if these improvements don’t immediately change a customer’s trading or reporting experience, we’ve chosen to fix every possible bottleneck today, not later,” the tweet further said.”Tools like ChatGPT and Claude make it clear this shift isn’t an “if” but a “when.” It might take a few years or a decade, but it’s inevitable. Human advisors will still have a role, mainly to help people stick to what these tools recommend,” it added.
He said that as of now, he remains unsure as to how things will evolve and Zerodha’s approach will be to remain curious, track the trends and act where it is required.
“As for how things will evolve, the answer is grey. No one knows. Our approach: stay curious, keep track of the trends, and act where it makes sense. For example, we’ve intentionally held back on enabling AI-driven order placement,” the tweet added.
Also Read: Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath on JioBlackRock’s stockbroking license: Deep pockets won’t help
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
