People Would Rather Have a Robot in Charge of Their Finances

It’s hard to trust your money with anyone—but what if that someone were a robot? As it turns out, the majority of people would rather leave their finances in the hands of artificial intelligence.

Oracle and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi conducted a study and found that COVID has cut into the uncertainty and anxiety people already had about managing their finances. The consumers surveyed said their stress had doubled and sadness had increased by 70%. For business leaders, the picture wasn’t any better; their stress reportedly increased by 186% and their sadness by 116%. (See the full infographic below.)

These human reactions to a devastating worldwide event are only natural. As we struggle to adapt in every facet of life, finances have become a major source of distress. Consumers said the pandemic has altered their purchasing of goods and services and how they feel about cash, using words like "anxious" (26%), "fearful" (23%), and "dirty" (19%). 

So when they were asked about robots managing the day-to-day of their financial lives, many of them were only too happy at the prospect of something that could handle unpredictability without emotion taking over. 

Enter robots. Of consumers and business leaders, 67% trust a robot more than a human to manage finances. When considering their own finances, 53% of consumers felt that a robot would do better than they would, and even more (63%) said they would trust them more than a personal financial advisor. Business leaders who face the responsibility of shepherding the fortunes of others were even more eager to employ robots in making financial decisions. They put a robot’s judgment over their own 73% of the time and over their finance teams 77% of the time. Specifically, they are convinced robots can improve fraud detection better (34%), create invoices (25%), and conduct cost/benefit analysis (23%). 

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In a statement accompanying the study, Torabi said, “Robots are well-positioned to assist—they are great with numbers and don’t have the same emotional connection with money. This doesn’t mean finance professionals are going away or being replaced entirely, but the research suggests they should focus on developing additional soft skills as their role evolves.”