Most Americans are comfortable letting artificial intelligence watch over their money but draw a sharp line when it comes to spending it, according to new research that offers a signal about where client appetite for AI-driven services actually sits.
The 2026 FIS Consumer Pulse Survey, conducted by financial technology company FIS (NYSE: FIS) in partnership with research firm Kantar, found that 57% of U.S. adults surveyed are comfortable with an AI assistant flagging or freezing a suspicious charge without asking first.
By contrast, only half want an AI to have authority over every transaction it makes on their behalf. The survey polled 2,000 U.S. adults online between September 16 and 30, 2026.
For advisors navigating client conversations about AI-powered banking tools and agentic finance platforms, the data points to a population that is open to automation in a narrowly defined context - fraud prevention - while remaining cautious about anything resembling autonomous financial decision-making.
"The path to AI that moves money starts with AI that protects it," said Jim Johnson, Co-President of Banking Solutions, FIS. "Consumers are open to innovation on their terms: they want security, control and confidence that someone is accountable when something goes wrong. Banks that build AI around those expectations will earn the trust to do more."
The survey reveals a hierarchy of comfort that advisors should understand when discussing technology with clients.
Asked about specific AI-assisted tasks, respondents said they were most at ease with an AI flagging or freezing a suspicious charge (57%) and paying a recurring bill they had already pre-approved (55%). Comfort dropped noticeably for sending money to another person or business (47%), opening a new savings account (43%), and applying for a loan or credit card (40%).
The pattern suggests clients are willing to delegate defensive financial tasks to AI while reserving more consequential decisions for human review - a disposition that aligns with what financial advisors are hearing directly from clients about how AI should function in a trusted relationship.
When asked to name their top three conditions for trusting an AI assistant with their money, 58% of respondents selected a refund guarantee for mistakes, and 56% said they want access to a human who can review and override decisions. Among those who said they are not ready to hand money management to AI, 70% cited a desire to remain in control of their own finances.
Readiness for autonomous AI money management varies sharply by age group.
Among millennial respondents - those aged 30 to 45 - 61% said they are prepared to hand day-to-day money management to an AI assistant. Gen Z respondents (aged 18 to 29) were close behind at 58%. Readiness falls to 33% among Gen X (aged 46 to 61), drops to 11% for those aged 62 to 69, and reaches just 3% among adults 70 and older.
Overall, 37% of all respondents said they are ready for AI-managed finances, while 49% said they are not. That generational split echoes broader trends in how younger investors are approaching technology-driven advice but it also reinforces that the majority of Americans, across age groups, still want a human hand on the wheel.
One finding advisors should bring into client conversations immediately: 35% of U.S. adults surveyed said they have been targeted by an AI impersonation scam or know someone who has. Among those targeted personally - 22% of all respondents - 58% said the approach came via a fake-voice phone call.
Younger generations reported the highest exposure: 55% of Gen Z respondents and 48% of millennials said they had been targeted or knew someone who had. Those same groups also expressed the highest confidence in their bank's ability to stop a deepfake scam - 57% and 65%, respectively, compared with 46% of all respondents. Separately, 47% of all respondents said they are confident their bank would return money lost to a deepfake scam.
The prevalence of AI-driven fraud is a live concern for the advisory industry. As InvestmentNews has reported, client skepticism about AI remains significant even as firms accelerate adoptionand scam exposure is part of what shapes that wariness.
the FIS findings point to a practical framing for client conversations about AI: lead with what AI can do to protect, not what it can do to replace human judgment. The data suggests that trust in AI-assisted finance is earned incrementally, beginning with security and moving toward autonomy only when accountability is clearly established.
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