ChatGPT and other AI programs have been capturing headlines recently as a solution for helping you write term papers and make financial decisions. So, we asked ChatGPT this question, “What the benefits and risks of taking financial advice from ChatGPT? Here is summary of what it said:
“As an AI language model trained on a vast amount of data, ChatGPT can provide users with helpful financial advice. However, like any source of financial advice, there are both benefits and risks associated with taking financial advice from ChatGPT.
One of the benefits of ChatGPT’s financial advice is its objectivity. ChatGPT does not have personal biases, emotions, or conflicts of interest that may affect the advice provided. Additionally, ChatGPT can analyze large amounts of data quickly and efficiently, making it a useful tool for evaluating investment opportunities or identifying trends in financial markets.
One of the risks is the potential for algorithmic biases. ChatGPT’s advice may be influenced by the biases inherent in the data it was trained on or the algorithms used to process that data. As a result, ChatGPT’s advice may not be as unbiased as expected.”
So ChatGPT “thinks” it is “objective” but also “biased”, and we suppose it is. I asked ChatGPT several other questions about which was better: Roth vs. Pretax, Whole vs. Term life insurance, etc. and while the answers varied as you might expect, I did get one very important piece of advice every time, and that was “it is always a good idea to consult with a human financial advisor before making any major financial decisions.” Now that’s good advice.
ChatGPT and others like it are no doubt going to change the world and may in fact, change how our kids write school assigned papers, and they’re a useful source of information, but you can’t shake their hand or look’em in the eye, they can’t reason out the gray areas of decision making. So at least for now, it’s still your best bet to be meeting with a fiduciary financial planner like those available through your employer sponsored financial wellness benefit offered by Francis.
