Link: AI Financial Advisers Target Young People Living Paycheck to Paycheck | WIRED

AI financial advisers like Cleo and Bright target young users, leveraging personalized chatbots to navigate financial issues and upsell products. Developed to assist users in managing money, these apps analyze spending and offer solutions to debt and credit problems.

Both Cleo AI and Bright utilize a service called Plaid to connect to users' bank accounts; this allows the chatbots to dissect financial habits and suggest tailored financial advice. Cleo's founder, Barney Hussey-Yeo, designed these chatbots to act as both confidant and coach.

However, these interactions often lead to upselling rather than genuine assistance. For instance, Cleo suggests cash advances and paid subscriptions which may further encumber user finances.

Bright's AI, marketing itself as an "AI debt manager," offers similar functionalities with a promise of higher cash loans up to $10,000, also leaning heavily on upselling third-party financial products. Errors in data processing were noted, reducing trust in the system's reliability.

Despite potential benefits in financial management, these AI tools exploit users' financial vulnerabilities for profit. They align closely with traditional financial services, prioritizing revenue generation over genuine financial aid.

Hussey-Yeo believes these AI tools are key in retaining users and boosting engagement, with significant opportunities for monetizing financial products. This approach reflects a broader trend in AI and fintech, prioritizing profitability over user-centric support. #

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