Financial Services’ AI Dangers Highlighted by Regulator’s Review - Insurance Journal

Ah, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority has published a review on AI in financial services, and what a surprise – a quarter of British consumers trust ChatGPT to handle their life savings. Because nothing says 'sound financial planning' like asking a language model trained on Reddit threads for investment tips. The FCA boasts it's the 'first regulator globally' to study this, which is a bit like being the first person to notice the elephant in the room after it's already eaten all the peanuts.

The review finds that 'more than a quarter' of consumers use AI for financial advice with 'limited awareness of protections.' So the public is handing over their pension pots to a chatbot that hallucinates recipes for glue pizza, and the regulator's response is a review. No binding rules, no enforcement – just a thoughtful report that will sit on a shelf gathering dust until the next scandal, when everyone will act shocked.

Meanwhile, the FCA pats itself on the back for being 'first' while the actual damage is done. Consumers are being fleeced by algorithms, and the regulator is content to publish findings. If this is the 'strongest' response we can expect from the world's financial watchdogs, we might as well ask ChatGPT for advice on how to avoid the coming disaster. It probably won't be worse than what's coming.