Is it Still Best to Trust Humans With Your Financial Advice?

 

If you have been paying any attention to the press dedicated to technology over the past couple of years, it would have been hard to miss the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the consumer level. When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, the world shifted, and we all started to consider what life might look like without human intervention.

 

AI has been around for decades, but it never looked like it does today. Today's version of AI took flight when OpenAI was created in 2016 and flew even higher in 2018 and 2020 when its GPT and DALL-E models launched, respectively.

 

AI is a relatively misunderstood concept for most people. As an internet user, the AI you might access through ChatGPT synthesizes information found on the internet to respond to your prompt questions. It does this very quickly, but there is nothing new in the response; it combines known information on the internet into a composed response to your prompt.

 

The current publicly facing AI should be distinct from machine learning, where a computer learns by processing millions of potential outcomes to arrive at an optimal response. A machine learning model takes the initial response and builds upon itself to further progress its level of understanding and learning.

 

The ChatGPT version of AI will be problematic for teachers asking students to research and turn in an essay on what they've learned, but it won't solve any question you ask where cognition, reasoned thought or creativity are required. This means that if you give it a question that doesn't have a black or white answer, AI won't return a response with shades of grey.

 

So, how does this affect what we do at the Allan Bush Investment Team? The answer is simple.

 

We are not machines. We won't take in reams of personal information through an application to spit out an investment plan you execute through a discount brokerage account.

 

We are people. We've dedicated our lives to providing our valued clients with the highest quality investment guidance. We take the time to know our clients. We want to know about their lives, interpersonal relationships, hopes, dreams, and what matters most to them and their family. We take all of this information and discuss it with them to determine how it will impact their financial situation today and in the future. Once we complete the groundwork, we use our decades of hands-on experience to craft a financial plan specific to you and all of the nuances that come with you.

 

So, we are similar to ChatGPT where we take all the relevant information we gathered about our client and what we know of the financial markets and produce a response to it. The most significant difference would be that our worlds aren't black and white; they are all full of grey. We embrace that grey to synthesize all the information and develop a financial plan that works toward their goals while balancing the risk and reward levels that feel appropriate for them. Ah ha, feel appropriate for them. Once they're comfortable with the plan, we painstakingly execute it for them, step by step. Then, we revist it semi-annually to ensure it still works well for the short and long term.

 

This personal touch and interaction make the difference between dealing with a computer or phone-based service and people genuinely caring about your well-being. At Allan Bush Investment Team, you are a person, not a number, and we treat you like our family. Not sure AI can do that.