The AI pension advisers are already here

McDougall, M. (2026, March 7). The AI pension advisers are already here. The Financial Times.

• A growing number of UK individuals are utilizing generative artificial intelligence platforms to assist with their personal pension planning and investment strategies.

• "A study of 5,000 Britons conducted by Lloyds Banking Group late last year concluded that more than half of adults were using AI platforms for financial advice."

• The Financial Conduct Authority has warned investors about AI "hallucinations," which are instances where chatbots present incorrect financial information with a misleading level of confidence.

• Wealth managers caution that current AI models lack the deep reasoning capabilities required to fully replace human financial advisers and struggle to interpret complex, region-specific tax laws and detailed legislative nuances.

• A recent assessment of popular AI platforms by the consumer research group Which? revealed that Perplexity and Gemini provided the most accurate personal finance answers, whereas Meta's tool was the least effective.

• To remain competitive and ensure regulatory compliance, established financial institutions are actively developing their own proprietary AI tools designed to provide personalized, heavily vetted investment guidance.

• Despite the inherent risks, many users find AI chatbots highly valuable for validating existing retirement plans, exploring financial scenarios without sales pressure, and preparing informed questions prior to meeting with traditional wealth managers.

Knote: At least we know that the AI scare is hitting the UK as well. I will point out that, in the article, they cite a study by "Which?" where they "Put leading AI platforms to the test on personal finance." Perplexity was ranked the highest for "accuracy" but they only scored 73%. I'm not sure what that score is exactly, but if it means 27% of what you get back is not accurate, I would consider that a problem. ChatGPT, the most popular platform for financial advice according to the FT, had an accuracy rating of 65%. I hope I am misinterpreting that stat and look forward to being corrected.