FCA research finds that 56% of investors aged 18 to 40 trust AI tools, ahead of TV, radio, press and social-media influencers. Yet 44% wrongly believe AI-generated financial information is regulated, while 32% think they could access FSCS or Financial Ombudsman protection if AI-led guidance goes wrong.
Although the research concerns investing, the implications for mortgage and protection advisers are clear. Clients may increasingly arrive with AI-generated product views, affordability assumptions or rate forecasts. General-purpose chatbots are not regulated financial advisers, and confident-sounding outputs can be incomplete, inaccurate or based on stale sources.
Firms using AI should position it as a support layer for research, document summarisation and service—not a replacement for regulated advice. Clear client communications, source checking, human oversight and a robust audit trail will be essential, particularly where AI contributes to customer-facing content or recommendations.