More than two-thirds (69%) of UK investors are comfortable with artificial intelligence (AI) being used in the investment decision making, according to a new study by Avaloq.
It revealed that more than half (54%) of participants would take financial advice from a combination of human beings and AI, versus 15% who are comfortable with their investments being fully driven by AI.
Investors were even more positive on using AI to analyse their portfolio performance, with 73% of respondents happy to use the technology and 19% willing to accept fully AI-driven analysis.
Avaloq’s head of data science Gery Zollinger said the direction of travel is clear – UK investors want some degree of AI involvement in their financial planning.
“Our research reveals that investors are more open to using AI in the investment process but still want the human touch, indicating natural opportunities for wealth managers to integrate AI into their offerings in a way that augments the service they provide,” he added.
Investors in the UK may have been positive on AI, but they were more cynical than others across Europe and Asia.
Almost three-quarters (74%) of global investors would integrate AI into their financial planning process, which was five percentage points higher than the UK average.
Likewise, the study found that 22% of global investors were happy to delegate their financial wellbeing solely to AI, versus 18% in the UK.
The research paper’s release coincides with the UK’s first AI Safety Summit, which aims to confront the key risks facing British people.
Zollinger said: “Scepticism over full delegation to AI and the issues that will be highlighted at this week’s AI Safety Summit offer pause for concern and highlight the importance of the financial sector fully understanding the risks associated with AI – as well as the need for effective regulation to ensure that AI does not compromise investor safety.
“It is vital that financial services firms using AI have a robust monitoring framework in place to identify and rectify any potential shortcomings, including unethical outcomes.”
Indeed, UK investors tend to be more cautious than the rest of the globe, according to the study. Only 1% of UK respondents said they were ‘very aggressive’ investors, with the UK ranking highest for ‘very conservative’ approaches at 16%.
The study surveyed 3,000 investors from around the world with 500 in each of the following individual countries: Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.