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 professional. In contrast, more said they were skeptical if it came from AI.

About one-third of respondents said they would accept hypothetical information on stock and bond performance whether it came from AI (34 percent) or a financial professional (33 percent). However, white males and those with higher self-assessments of financial knowledge were more inclined to trust AI over a human advisor.

When it comes to portfolio allocation, financial professionals took the lead, with 37 percent of respondents saying they trust information from human professionals compared to just 30 percent who trusted AI.

And while respondents in general trusted a hypothetical recommendation on savings and debt, the source notwithstanding, more Black respondents said they would believe it if it came from a financial professional (69 percent) than from AI (48 percent).

“[I]t will be crucial for the financial services industry to continue to better understand how consumers interact with AI to better equip them with the resources and knowledge to make sound financial decisions,” Walsh said, emphasizing that consumers’ perceptions of AI could change over time.

Indeed, a recent report from Deloitte estimates that generative AI-enabled tools will reach 78 percent adoption by 2028, with that technology becoming the top source of investment advice by 2027.

AI is also on the agenda at an upcoming virtual roundtable by the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee, which aims to probe emerging issues for companies, investment managers, and other participants in the markets.