When the country's largest custodian sets a public deployment date for client-facing AI, it resets every other firm's internal planning horizon whether they want it to or not. Schwab's accelerating AI strategy — spanning client engagement, advisor workflows, and revenue models — is significant not because Schwab invented any of these capabilities but because production deployment at Schwab's scale normalizes expectations for what clients will consider standard service. An RIA whose clients also hold Schwab accounts will face a comparison they did not choose to invite.