About 20% of Americans have recently turned to AI for financial advice, but trust in that guidance remains very low—fewer than one in three Americans who use AI for financial advice have significant confidence in it, compared with 79% who trust human financial advisers.
Younger people under 46 are leading adoption at one-quarter of the cohort, while only 7% of baby boomers have tried it, and most Americans across generations still rely on their own internet research rather than either AI or professional advisers.
What happened
About 20% of Americans have recently used AI for financial advice, according to polling by Gallup and Edward Jones. Fewer than one in three Americans have some or a great deal of confidence in the financial advice they receive from AI, compared with 79% who express the same confidence in human financial advisers.
Why it matters
A sharp generational divide is emerging: one-quarter of respondents under age 46 have used AI for financial guidance, while only 7% of boomers have done so. This suggests younger people are experimenting with AI despite widespread skepticism about its reliability, while older generations continue to rely on human advisers—leaving a potential trust and competence gap as AI financial tools become more common.
What to watch
The most popular source of financial guidance across all generations remains respondents' own internet research. More than half of boomers consulted a professional financial adviser in the last year, while only 14% of Gen Z and 21% of millennials did the same—indicating whether AI will fill the advisory gap younger cohorts are not filling with professionals.
A new survey by Gallup and Edward Jones provides a snapshot of how Americans are beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence into their financial decision-making—and the extent to which that embrace remains tentative. Approximately 20% of Americans report having recently used AI for financial advice. However, the polling reveals a significant trust deficit: fewer than one in three of those who use AI for financial guidance express some or a great deal of confidence in the advice they receive. That stands in sharp contrast to traditional financial advisers, who enjoy the confidence of 79% of those who consult them—a gap that highlights the skepticism many Americans harbor about AI's financial expertise.
The survey also uncovers a pronounced generational divide in AI adoption for financial purposes. One-quarter of respondents under age 46—including Gen Z and millennials—have used AI for financial guidance, compared with just 7% of baby boomers. This roughly three-fold difference suggests that younger Americans are more willing to experiment with AI tools, whether out of familiarity with the technology, limited access to professional advisers, or both. The generational pattern extends to traditional financial advice as well: more than half of boomers said they had consulted a professional financial adviser in the last year, while only 14% of Gen Z and 21% of millennials reported the same. Notably, across all age groups, the single most popular source of financial guidance is respondents' own internet research, indicating that self-directed exploration ranks above both AI and professional advisory services as Americans' preferred approach to managing their finances.
The polling reveals a clear paradox in how Americans are approaching AI-driven financial guidance: while younger generations are adopting the technology at notably higher rates, confidence in its expertise remains critically low across the board. The fact that fewer than one in three users of AI financial advice express meaningful confidence in it—a gap of 46 percentage points behind human advisers—suggests that curiosity and access are driving usage among the young, not genuine belief in AI's capability. The generational split is especially stark: Gen Z and millennials are embracing AI experimentation at rates three to four times higher than boomers, yet simultaneously show the lowest engagement with professional financial advisers (14% and 21%, respectively, versus more than half of boomers). This gap may indicate that younger cohorts lack ready access to or trust in traditional advisory services and are using AI as a second-best alternative rather than a preferred solution. The finding that internet self-research remains the most popular guidance source across all age groups underscores a broader pattern: Americans prefer to manage financial decisions themselves, whether through online research or AI tools, rather than delegate to professionals.
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