AI vs. human advice: which one wins consumers’ trust?
A new report from the Finra Investor Education Foundation reveals that despite AI’s increasingly central role in investments and daily life, few consumers would rely on it for personal finance advice.
The study, titled “The machines are coming (with personal finance information). Do we trust them?” examines consumer trust in AI-generated financial information compared to advice from financial professionals.
The report highlights a significant preference for human advisors, with only 5 percent of respondents indicating they use AI for financial guidance. In contrast, 63 percent of those surveyed sought advice from financial professionals, and 56 percent consulted friends and family.
In a statement, Gerri Walsh, president of the Finra Investor Education Foundation emphasized the importance of understanding consumers’ perceptions of AI and how they leverage it for financial decisions.
“This report found that while more consumers indicated trusting individual financial professionals than AI, there are instances where some consumers preferred AI-generated information related to topics like homeownership and saving,” Walsh said.
Finra’s study, which surveyed over 1,000 adults in the US, focused on four key financial topics: homeownership, projected stock and bond performance, portfolio allocation, and savings and debt information. Respondents were asked to assess the trustworthiness of hypothetical AI-generated advice versus that provided by financial professionals.
The findings revealed that consumer trust varied across different domains of advice. While respondents broadly trusted a hypothetical statement on homeownership regardless of the source, more participants said they trust information if it came from financial
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