More than half of all adults in Britain are using ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence platforms to make financial decisions, according to a study that reveals how quickly AI has come to influence consumer behaviour.
Financial advice is the most commonly cited reason for using AI, with 56 per cent of people citing it, ahead of 29 per cent for help on emails or work documents, 20 per cent for recipes, 17 per cent for medical advice and 14 per cent for career tips.
The 28.8 million adults using AI for money matters have sought not only saving and budgeting advice but also recommendations in more complicated areas such as pensions, choosing individual investments and tax guidance, the study found.
The flood of advice sought from AI platforms, which only became available to the public from November 2022, could help people make better financial decisions but also expose them to greater risks.
Jas Singh, chief executive for consumer relationships at Lloyds Banking Group, which commissioned the research, said: “AI is empowering millions to feel more confident about their financial decisions — but it’s vital they receive information they can trust.”
The frequency of requests for advice is eye-catching with one in three adults using AI platforms once a week or more for information or advice on money matters.
While regulated banks and investment firms are tightly restricted on what they can say to customers and potential customers, AI platforms are entirely unregulated, raising the prospect of people being exposed to bad advice.
• When to take financial advice — and when to go it alone
The study of 5,000 adults found a relatively high level awareness of the risks, with 80 per cent concerned about receiving inaccurate information and 83 per cent worried about data privacy.
AI is seen as hugely helping address the advice gap — the problem that millions of people in Britain fail to receive any tailored personal help because they will not or cannot afford to pay the £1,000 or so that a full “fact find” of their financial affairs requires.
ChatGPT, the free service offered by the US company OpenAI, is the most popular AI platform used, cited by six out of ten respondents. Others include Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot and the Meta AI integrated into Facebook and WhatsApp.
Users had a favourable opinion about AI advice overall, saying it helped them save an average of £399 a year.
Regulated firms are investing millions into new systems as they gear up to the new “targeted support” rules which will allow them to make product suggestions to customers for the first time without doing a full financial fact find.
The new regime overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority is expected in late 2026, but financial firms may find themselves behind the curve given what unregulated AI platforms are already doing.
The FCA is understood to be considering updating its website to make consumers aware that generative AI websites can be a useful place to start in understanding financial concepts. In a pilot project earlier this year it found they offered “strong potential in simplifying complex information, enhancing readability and accessibility”.
However, human judgment was still needed and consumers needed to understand that there was no protection through the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the advice proved harmful.
Ignorance, excessive risk aversion and frustration with the jargon of the financial services industry have all been cited as reasons for people making sub-optimal money decisions. The government is considering measures to encourage people to invest more in the share market rather than in savings accounts, which yield almost no return after adjusting for inflation.
Just a few minutes spent on ChatGPT shows it giving some good generic advice but also making precise recommendations, which an officially regulated investment firm could never do — including which shares and crypto currencies to buy.
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