Artificial intelligence and your financial life

The recent and rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked questions about how it could impact our financial lives. And while the technology promises the potential for innovation and opportunity in personal finance and investing, it also carries many unknowns, risks and deficiencies.

As generative AI continues to evolve, know that your Ameriprise financial advisor is committed to understanding you and your distinct financial needs, values and priorities. This deep knowledge uniquely positions them in your financial life to provide personalized advice that can help you reach your financial goals.

Here’s how to navigate the impact that generative AI may have on your financial life.

What is generative AI?

Generative AI is a subset of artificial intelligence that synthesizes vast amounts of data and uses advanced machine-learning algorithms to generate new text, images, data or models. AI is a technology that has been around for decades, but generative AI is relatively new to consumers through tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E and Google Gemini.

While the potential of generative AI is significant, there are also significant risks and challenges. Generative AI's outputs are only as good as the data it gathers, and the technology is prone to offering seemingly authoritative responses with imperfect information. Additionally, data inaccuracies or "hallucinations," privacy issues, ethical considerations and a lack of regulation are just a few of the concerns.

How might AI affect your finances?

How do you balance the risks with the technology’s benefits and potential? Here’s how AI may impact the different facets of your financial life:

The markets

Investor enthusiasm around the potential of generative AI is significant, and much of the 2023 bull market and early 2024 market rally can be traced back to this excitement. Specifically, investors are bullish on the technology’s potential to disrupt traditional business models, and the efficiency and productivity gains it promises.

However, as the buzz around generative AI continues, it’s important to remember that this hype can lead to inflated valuations and unrealistic expectations. Investors may soon be faced with a myriad of companies touting their AI-enhanced products and gains, and some of these claims may not be legitimate nor viable. As was the case with meme stocks in 2021 and 2022 or the dotcom bubble in the early 2000s, it’s important to remember that investors can easily get caught up in a frenzy and overlook significant risk in their investment decisions.

Bottom line: When evaluating specific AI-fueled investing opportunities, conduct due diligence on the company in question, its track record and the competitive landscape.

Personal finance

Generative AI can automate many aspects of personal finance, making management of your money faster and more efficient. An AI-powered finance platform, for example, can categorize your expenses, track spending trends, recommend spending plans and provide alerts when you're close to exceeding your limits. Financial institutions are also likely to adopt this technology to accelerate insurance underwriting, support investment research and customer training, and quickly detect and alert you to unauthorized account access or fraudulent activities.

Bottom line: When deciding whether to opt into AI-fueled tools for personal use, consider the reputation of the firm providing it and be aware of any data-sharing implications.

Cybersecurity

The privacy and security implications of AI are significant. While AI may help financial institutions detect financial fraud, bad actors are also using this technology to make their scams more convincing and sophisticated. For example, fraudsters have employed AI voice-generating tools, deep-fake videos and personalized phishing messages that are increasingly difficult to differentiate from authentic communications. Scammers are also using AI to analyze vast amounts of data on potential victims, tailoring scams to individuals' behaviors and preferences.

Beyond fraud, chatbots also pose a privacy concern. Generative AI systems operate from the data they're fed, and your personal or financial data could be stored, analyzed and used in ways you don't understand or authorize. Sharing personal or financial details with AI chatbots without verifying their security credentials could expose you to identity theft, financial loss and privacy invasions.

Bottom line: Know that AI is being used to create difficult-to-detect scams and be very cautious about any personal information you share with chatbots.

Financial advice

Your financial situation is unique to you. It’s influenced by many factors, such as your financial goals, risk tolerance, financial history, life stage, time horizon, values and personal needs. Your financial advisor intimately understands this — and they know you. As such, they are uniquely positioned to create a financial strategy that accounts for these complex dynamics and nuanced personal circumstances.

While generative AI can automate many services and skills, AI-fueled tools can also miss unforeseen market developments, be overconfident when forecasting future market movements and overlook nuances of human behavior.

Bottom line: For financial advice and investing decisions, rely on your Ameriprise financial advisor for personalized guidance that’s tailored to your financial goals, risk tolerance and time horizon.

We’ll help you navigate the unknown

While generative AI may bring innovation and uncertainty, your Ameriprise financial advisor is uniquely positioned to provide personalized financial advice to help you reach your financial goals.