Young investors trust AI more than TV or celebrities
AI Analysis
The FCA published research on 2026-08-27 showing that 56% of surveyed UK investors aged 18 to 40 trust AI tools for investment-related information, while 44% incorrectly believe AI-generated financial information is regulated. The publication does not introduce new rules or deadlines, but it signals heightened FCA concern about consumer misunderstanding, the boundary between general-purpose chatbots and regulated financial advice, and the absence of FSCS or Financial Ombudsman Service protection for unregulated AI outputs.
Key dates
- 2026-07-24
- The FCA conducted the Attest quantitative survey of 666 UK adults aged 18 to 40 who owned investments or were considering buying investments within 12 months.
- 2026-08-27
- The FCA published the press release and research findings on young investors' trust in AI.
Suggested considerations
- Compliance teams may wish to map all AI use cases across investment research, recommendations, suitability, appropriateness assessments, client communications, and financial promotions, distinguishing general-purpose tools from systems specifically configured to provide financial advice.
- Firms should consider assessing whether any AI-generated output amounts to a personal recommendation, regulated advice, or a financial promotion under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, rather than relying on the technology's general-purpose label.
- Firms using AI in regulated activities should consider applying the same suitability, appropriateness, customer understanding, disclosure, record-keeping, oversight, and accountability standards that apply to equivalent human-led processes.
- Customer-facing communications may warrant clear explanation that general-purpose chatbot outputs are not FCA-regulated advice and do not themselves create entitlement to FSCS compensation or access to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
- Compliance teams may wish to test AI outputs for hallucinations, stale or unsupported sources, misleading performance claims, inappropriate personalisation, bias, and inadequate risk warnings, with escalation and human-review controls for higher-risk outputs.
- Firms should consider reviewing whether AI-generated content used in promotions complies with the FCA financial promotion restriction in section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and applicable FCA financial-promotion rules.
- Governance reviews may include vendor due diligence, approved-use restrictions, audit trails, model-change monitoring, incident reporting, staff training, and controls preventing customers or staff from treating AI output as a substitute for regulated advice.
- Firms may wish to monitor the FCA's expected late-2026 publication on good and poor AI practice and any subsequent FCA, HM Treasury, or industry measures addressing advice-like outputs from general-purpose AI.
What changed
No binding regulatory requirement, rule, prohibition, or implementation deadline was introduced. The FCA clarified its current supervisory position that general-purpose AI chatbots are not regulated by the FCA where they respond to varied prompts and are not specifically established to provide financial advice, research, or decision-making support. By contrast, an AI tool specifically deployed to provide financial advice would be likely to fall within the FCA's remit and could engage the existing UK regulatory framework for regulated advice and financial promotions. The publication reinforces that firms cannot assume consumers understand this distinction and is consistent with wider FCA and industry commentary, including TISA's call for the advice framework to address unregulated AI tools
Compliance impact
The immediate impact is supervisory and conduct-related rather than a new legal obligation: firms should expect greater scrutiny of AI-enabled advice, investment communications, consumer understanding, and the distinction between regulated and unregulated services. Poor controls could contribute to unsuitable recommendations, misleading financial promotions, consumer harm, complaints, enforcement
Who is affected
Related regulations
References
AI-generated analysis. May contain errors or omissions — verify with the original FCA source before acting. Full disclaimer.
What the FCA said
Four in 5 less experienced investors have used AI for help with investing – and around two-thirds report doing so occasionally or regularly. New research focused on 18- to 40-year-olds who own or are considering investments showed that 56% trust AI tools, more than TV and radio (47%), press (46%) or social media…
Extract from FCA . Read the full notice at the source for the authoritative text.