If you’re jumping out of a plane with just a parachute between you and the ground, would you be happy knowing that the parachute only works 50% of the time? Or even 99% of the time?
When it comes to your safety, that margin for error simply isn’t good enough. Nobody wants to jump out of a plane unless they know their parachute is entirely fit for purpose.
Yet when it comes to financial safety, many people are taking a much more casual, and sometimes even reckless, approach.
It’s abundantly clear that AI is not only here, but here to stay. And while it has many excellent uses and applications, if you rely on it completely for financial advice, you’re jumping out of a plane with a potentially malfunctioning parachute on your back.
According to FTAdviser, AI gets financial advice wrong over half of the time. Research showed that, when faced with questions about finance and pensions, AI tools answered 52% of them incorrectly. (In our parachute analogy, that one will only work 48% of the time. Ask yourself if that’s good enough.)
AI is not a new concept, but it’s rapidly gaining traction
The foundation of AI has been around for longer than most of us realise, dating back around 70 years to when Alan Turing first started asking questions about the potential intelligence of machines.
Since then, it’s gathered pace and traction, now operating as transformational technology that touches almost every aspect of our daily lives.
Without question, that also includes financial planning and advice. Many financial planners are now using AI tools to streamline their processes and improve efficiencies.
This could take the form of:
- Compliance checking
- Generating tasks based on conversations
- Transcribing and summarising client meetings
- Scanning data to perform specific tasks, such as checking when reviews are due
Essentially, AI does some of the heavy lifting on the time-consuming tasks no one wants to do, like typing up meeting notes, or searching through endless files. And it does these tasks very well.
What this does is free up more time for the human side of financial planning. Talking to you, getting to know more about your financial circumstances, your hopes and aspirations, how you’d like to develop your portfolio, what kind of risk tolerance you have… the real and organic stuff that makes your financial plan individual.
None of these are things we’d recommend you entrust an AI bot with. While these platforms are very good at emulating human empathy and understanding, the key is in the word “artificial”. When it comes to your financial plan, you need “human”.
3 reasons to avoid using AI for financial planning
1. There are no regulations governing financial advice from AI
Financial planners are strictly regulated to make sure we’re putting our clients’ best interests first. This means being authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), carrying out ongoing training, and adhering to a specific, rigorous code of conduct.
If you have any complaints, you can take these to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which resolves issues between financial businesses and their customers.
None of this applies to an AI bot, however. If you ask ChatGPT for advice, which you follow and then regret, there is no recourse for complaint.
We’ve already highlighted how often these platforms give out incorrect information. This could have not only bad, but potentially disastrous results. Imagine planning your whole retirement income based on shaky advice. It simply isn’t worth the risk.
2. Your data isn’t guaranteed to be safe
Again, there are strict codes in the UK for safely managing and storing your data. Organisations are obliged to follow the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), so you know that your sensitive details will be kept safe by your financial planner.
Financial planning does require an element of sharing personal information. A financial planner will respect this. An AI bot, however, won’t. Share your private details with it, and there is no mechanism or guarantee to keep them safe.
We’d urge you to never give out personal information in conversations with AI.
3. AI doesn’t get to know you, it just pretends to
“That’s an excellent question.” “That must be awful for you.” And so on. ChatGPT and its counterparts are very good at wrapping up their answers with what seem like compliments and empathy.
There’s a place for this. For example, if you are talking to it about a difficult situation in your life, it doesn’t just give you a cold, factual reply.
The danger is that you can start to think you’re talking to a real person, when you’re not. ChatGPT doesn’t “write” to you; it produces code that translates into English – there is a big difference!
On the other hand, we get to know you – what makes you tick, what your priorities are, and how you want your wealth to work for you.
When we meet for your review, we take all this information and shift it into the next phase of your financial plan. It’s a holistic, personal approach that means you’re getting tailored advice based on your own circumstances.
Get in touch
We’re human, we’re regulated, and we get to know you. If you’d like to add the Servo Private Wealth touch to your financial planning, we’ll be happy to help. Please email us at info@servoprivatewealth.com or call 01444 715200.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
Any links will direct to a third-party website and Servo Private Wealth is not responsible for the accuracy of the information or content contained within linked sites.
Approved by Best Practice IFA Group Limited on 22/06/2026.