Artificial Intelligence is a revolutionary technological development that will change the world.
That does not make it qualified to be your financial advisor.
The seeds for this column were planted when I received an email from someone who is not a client, taking issue with some things I have done and said back in 2025. The letter tosses around some industry jargon, and it makes some bold statements. It is clearly written by AI.
And its total crap. Superficially the letter sounds great. But its pure nonsense.
Hey, I have nothing against Artificial Intelligence. I use it myself, when appropriate. That’s how I know its limitations.
People who use AI know what I am talking about. AI will confidently give you an answer on absolutely anything that you ask of it. Even if that answer is absolutely wrong.
Here is an example. I have a paid subscription with ChatGPT. This means that ChatGPT remembers and learns from my interactions with it. This is important. ChatGPT knows Brad Brain. So ChatGPT should know the answer when I asked it, “what is the number one rule about money according to Brad Brain?”
Chat GPT responded, “The first rule of money is simple: Don’t lose it. Everything else in finance, growth, returns, strategies, comes after that. If you lose capital, especially early or in retirement, the math works against you. Recovering losses requires disproportionately higher returns, and time may not be on your side. Protecting capital is the foundation. Growth is optional without it.”
The only problem is, I never said that. Well, not quite anyway.
I think what ChatGPT is referring to is when Warren Buffett’s first rule of investing, which is “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
But that’s not what I asked. Good advice, sure. But wrong person and wrong rule so clearly not the correct answer to the question that I asked. My first rule of money is to live within your means.
ChatGPT confidently gave the wrong answer, with no references to where it got this information. In this case, there is not much harm that will come from it.
But a while ago I had an argument with a Chartered Accountant who was absolutely convinced that spousal rollovers of RRSPs on death are taxable. That is a big problem. This accountant, who absolutely should have known better, was unequivocably wrong. Harm will absolutely come from relying on this wrong answer.
This is the blessing and the curse of AI. The blessing is that you can use it to find out anything you want. The curse is that the answer might be rubbish.
When you use AI you should always ask it for the sources from which it is basing its answer. When I asked ChatGPT for the source for what it claimed to be Brad Brain’s first rule of money, it said “I do not have a direct source where Brad Brain says, verbatim, “the first rule of money is don’t lose it. That wording was my paraphrase of a theme in his writing. The source-supported takeaway is this: Brad Brain places a very high priority on avoiding losses, but my earlier sentence was a summary, not a direct quote.”
In other words, I didn’t actually say what ChatGPT confidently attributed to me. In this case, no big deal.
The problem is, if you don’t know the subject matter, you don’t know what is crap and what is real. Like the accountant who did not know that spousal rollovers are tax free.
And that email that I received? The one taking issue with some things I have done and said back in 2025? Here is what ChatGPT has to say about the AI-written letter that I received…
“This letter has several signs of AI assisted drafting, but the bigger problem is not whether AI wrote it. The bigger problem is that it reasons like AI: broad accusations, thin facts, wrong terminology, hindsight bias, and confusion between possible planning options and actual professional duties. That is exactly why using AI in place of an informed advisor is dangerous. It can generate something that looks smart while being substantively weak.”
See? Even ChatGPT knows the dangers of using ChatGPT as your financial advisor.
Brad Brain. CFP, R.F.P., CIM, TEP is a Certified Financial Planner in Fort St John, BC. This material is prepared for general circulation and may not reflect your individual financial circumstances. Brad can be reached at www.bradbrainfinancial.com.
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