An estimated 382,000 unadvised UK adults have acted on financial guidance provided by AI tools, according to research from the lang cat, with the study suggesting AI is playing an increasingly significant role in personal financial decision-making.
Artificial intelligence is influencing financial decisions relating to an estimated £47.4bn of savings and investments, according to new research from the lang cat’s latest Advice Gap study, sponsored by Saturn.
The report estimates that 382,000 unadvised adults have asked an AI tool about an area typically handled by a financial planner and subsequently acted on the response.
The lang cat said this would place AI among the most influential sources of financial guidance in the UK by assets under influence.
The research found that 24% of GB adults have asked an AI tool about their personal finances in the past two years. Among those users, 31% said they had sought information about investments, while 18% had asked about investing for retirement and 16% about pensions.
Use of AI for financial questions was found to vary by age and income. The study reported that 35% of 18 to 24-year-olds had used AI for financial questions during the past two years, compared with 12% of those aged over 55.
Younger users were also more likely to act on information provided by AI without seeking further verification. The research found that 22% of 18 to 24-year-olds had acted on an AI-generated answer without checking it elsewhere, compared with 13% of all users and 4% of those aged over 55.
The findings come shortly after Saturn published research into the performance of large language models on financial queries. According to Saturn, AI models including ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Grok and Gemini provided incorrect answers to financial enquiries 57% of the time on average.
Amal Jolly, CEO of Saturn, said: “It’s easier than ever for people to access what they think is financial advice through mainstream AI models. But our separate research showed how poorly LLMs perform in financial advice tasks, and £47.4bn is a lot of money subject to inconsistent help that’s wrong more than half the time.
“The effect this will have on the advice market and consumer outcomes is unknown, but more needs to be done to protect people.”
He added: “The opportunity for advice firms in this uncertainty is to meet the demand with professional, regulated advice, rather than leave it to an unregulated, general-purpose chatbot.”
The publication of the research follows calls from the Financial Conduct Authority for AI providers to include disclaimers on financial information and advice outputs generated by their models.
Mark Polson, CEO of the lang cat, said: “Nobody expected one of the most influential financial advisers in the UK would be built by a few non-financial services companies with no regulated permissions that weren’t trying to disrupt this market. But that’s where we are.”
He went on to say: “AI is an incomprehensibly impactful wildcard in financial advice. And that’s because we just don’t know the effect it will have over the next 5 to 10 years. What we do know for certain is how much people value their financial adviser and the peace of mind their financial planning gives them.”
The study also examined attitudes towards a potential government-backed AI guidance service. While 29% of respondents said they would be likely to use such a service, 58% said they would be unlikely to do so.
Among those who would not use it, 64% cited concerns about whether it would be impartial or accurate.
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