Four in ten Britons have turned to AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini for personal financial guidance, according to 2025 research from comparison site Finder. One in six have sought investing advice or stock tips through generative AI, while one in seven have used the technology for digital asset guidance.
Ortec Finance, a provider of technology and solutions for risk and return management, recently delved into the growing use of AI for advice.
The AI advide trend is not entirely negative, it highlighted. Greater engagement with financial tools, however imperfect, can lead to more informed decision-making and may produce better outcomes for some individuals. But the experience is far from universal, and the risks of relying on large language model (LLM)-powered chatbots for something as consequential as financial advice are significant.
The fundamental problem is one of depth, Ortec said. When a financial adviser meets a new client for the first time, their job is to build a comprehensive picture of that person’s life, their family circumstances, risk appetite, financial goals, time horizon, assets and liabilities. It is that holistic understanding that gives professional advice its value and its power.
The prompts most consumers are typing into AI tools bear little resemblance to that kind of structured, detailed intake process. The average person is not financially educated enough to know what information a chatbot would need to generate advice that even broadly reflects their personal situation.
A Sky News experiment illustrated this clearly: when ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot and Google Gemini were each asked how to invest £16,000, the average adult savings in the UK, the results revealed familiar shortcomings. Suggestions lacked diversification, some recommendations were short on market insight, and there were notable inconsistencies between stated investment strategies and the actual funds or stocks proposed.
Yet the behaviour itself tells an important story, it said. Consumers are turning to AI not out of recklessness, but out of necessity. Years of rising costs have effectively priced millions of people out of traditional financial advice. The public’s willingness to experiment with AI tools is a signal of genuine appetite.
That demand is now shaping regulatory thinking. A new framework known as targeted support is set to create a middle ground between generic financial guidance and full personalised advice. Under the proposed regime, regulated firms would be able to make suggestions and recommendations to groups of consumers who share common characteristics and financial needs, offering something more tailored than a leaflet, but without the cost or complexity of bespoke advice.
Targeted support is not a substitute for comprehensive financial planning. But it represents a materially safer option than AI-generated responses, and crucially, it keeps qualified professionals in the loop, something that AI tools simply cannot replicate, Ortec noted. For many consumers, it could also serve as a gateway into longer-term, holistic financial planning.
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