No longer do younger Americans turn to mom or dad to help set up their 401(k), understand their paycheck, or get investment advice—that’s because AI has become their new financial friend.
While AI has taken on roles ranging from break-up coach to health expert, tools like Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are now guiding younger generations to tackle their financial woes, from credit card debt to picking their latest stocks and ETFs.
In fact, two-thirds of adults who’ve used AI for financial advice say they’ve actually followed it—and 80% of those say it helped their finances, according to a survey of more than 1,000 people by Intuit Credit Karma.
But here’s the catch: it’s far from foolproof. Over half of respondents who used AI for financial advice made a “poor financial decision or mistake” based on what it prompted them to do.
Unsurprisingly, those at pivotal points in their financial literacy journey are the most frequent users of AI, with around 82% of Gen Z and millennial AI users turning to it the most for money guidance.
They’ve turned to AI for financial guidance on a wide spectrum of topics, from basic personal finance and financial education to more complex matters like tax filing and investing. The most common areas of interest among AI users include goal setting and action plans (35%), budgeting and expense management (34%), optimizing savings (33%), and stock market investing (32%).
It’s also saving them the embarrassment of not knowing all the financial jargon. Three in four of those who used AI say that it allows them to ask the financial questions they’re too embarrassed to ask others.
People are turning to ChatGPT for more extreme scenarios like becoming a millionaire—but not without risk
Using AI for budgeting and investment plans may even be a modest use of the tool. Some are taking it much further, asking ChatGPT how to become a millionaire.
On TikTok, a creator even dubbed it “the 90-day millionaire challenge,” guiding her viewers to use the advice ChatGPT generated for her as a pathway to financial freedom.
Separately, another report from GoBankingrate turned to ChatGPT for advice on how to become a millionaire from a $60,000 salary.
“Becoming a millionaire on a $60,000 salary is absolutely possible, but it requires discipline, time, and smart financial decisions,” responded ChatGPT. The report broke down how you can “realistically” build a millionaire life, with steps including maximizing savings, growing your income, and more.
But experts warn it’s not all perfect, and advice should be left to human experts instead.
For example, in a separate 2025 report from Investing in the Web, researchers asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT 100 questions related to finance—and then had the answers reviewed by experts at their company.
In the report, AI responded to 35% of financial queries incorrectly, with one in three answers being hallucinations. Meanwhile, other money experts have cautioned that using AI for financial advice could cause fraud and identity theft risks.
Though using AI for an array of life coaches is becoming increasingly popular, 51% of Americans are still worried about security and privacy leaks when using AI, according to the Intuit Credit Karma survey. That’s why over half of respondents are seeking out financial advice and information online, and over a quarter consider social media a solid source, followed by search engines and then lastly, AI.
Have you turned to AI for financial advice? Fortune wants to hear from you. Reach out to: jessica.coacci@fortune.com
