Leaders at artificial intelligence companies often ask users (and investors) to imagine a not-too-distant future where AI trainers, trained on personal data and past interactions, help users achieve their wildest dreams. Want to be more active? This is an AI-designed exercise. Want to monitor your long-term well-being? Try this AI health app. Want to fix your money problems? There’s a personal finance chatbot for that. Multiple, actually. My goal is to be debt free by the end of 2025, and as a journalist who often tries out new software, I was eager to try some of the AI financial advisors that have become popular in recent years. Hiring a human money manager can easily cost several thousand dollars, so more people, especially younger users, are turning to AI tools for advice. From Apple’s top chart of free financial apps, I decided to try two well-reviewed options that offer chatbots meant to fix money problems: Cleo AI and Bright. Both Cleo AI and Bright encourage users to connect their bank accounts to the app through a third-party service called Plaid. It allows chatbots to break spending habits, help users pay off debt, and build credit. “Using your bank data and what you tell us, Cleo will be your confidant or coach,” said Barney Hussey-Yeo, the company’s CEO and founder. “They will give you the right advice and the right products to help you make better financial decisions.” Fair enough, but some of the guidance Cleo gave me deviated from that path. While there are fun moments, like the spotlight of a friendly roast where I spend in unnecessary ways, the generative AI tools seem especially busy using personal data for sales opportunities. Bright is also the same. For example, I started a conversation pretending to be sad and have no money to buy groceries. According to Hussey-Yeo, Cleo’s core user demographic is young people who live paycheck to paycheck and “feel the financial pain more than most people.” So I thought this would be the type of user that is shared all the time. The bot feigned sympathy and immediately started encouraging me to check if I was eligible for a cash advance through the app. After Cleo cleared my eligibility for a cash advance, I was asked to sign up for a $6 per month Cleo Plus membership. The first time I used it, the app offered me $130 in cash back, split into $65 increments over two days. Users technically do not have to pay a fee for a cash advance if they are willing to wait approximately three to four business days-a difficult achievement for people who live between paychecks and distractions from the goal of paying off the previous debt. Cleo also offers a same-day money transfer, if I agree to pay the $8 express fee. This meant I had to pay back the $73 about a week later for the advance. After not doing it the first time, the application increased the total limit to $ 200 the next day, divided into two increments of $ 100. According to Hussey-Yeo, about a third of Cleo’s revenue comes from cash, with the remaining amount made through subscriptions and cards which is designed to help users improve their credit scores. In the end, Cleo felt more like a temptation to take on additional short-term debt, than a real solution to my money problems. Although the Cleo application does not currently include offers for larger loans, the financial chatbot Bright, marketed as an “AI loan manager,” does. The subscription to the Bright AI assistant is more, $39 for three months of access, but also promises access to more cash, up to $10,000 through third-party lenders. Compared to other AI finance chatbots we tested, Bright’s output included more confusing errors, like claiming that I lost more than $7,000 in insufficient funds charges in the past month, the wrong amount.
AI Financial Advisor Targets Young People’s Paycheck Live to Paycheck
