The bank has spoken to thousands of investors about the role that AI plays and will perform in investment strategy and other important financial decisions, and how this integrates with existing human relationships.

AI falls a long way behind human expertise in driving investment ideas and financial strategies, according to a new report from HSBC.

“They [investors] value AI as a research tool, but they want their ideas validated, blind spots identified, and their personal context understood,” the 30-page report said. “When asked where their last investment idea came from, 62 per cent of those surveyed cite financial professionals and institutions, while just a third name AI (32 per cent). This gap widens sharply at the point of decision: only 12 per cent cite AI as the most influential factor in what they ultimately do with their money.”

The findings come from The Human-AI Advantage: A Global Affluent Report 2026. It is an examination of how affluent and high net worth individuals see AI in their financial lives. HSBC took views from 10,000 investors.

“The report findings confirm that AI is no longer future facing for affluent investors,” Willem Sels, global CIO, International Wealth and Premier Banking, HSBC, said.

The report noted how, for many people, AI has become an early port of call for generating ideas, exploring scenarios, and building understanding of complex products, tasks that previously might have required more time or specialist input.

“They value AI as a research tool, but they want their ideas validated, blind spots identified, and their personal context understood. When asked where their last investment idea came from, 62 per cent of those surveyed cite financial professionals and institutions, while just a third name AI (32 per cent),” it said. “This gap widens sharply at the point of decision: only 12 per cent cite AI as the most influential factor in what they ultimately do with their money.”

As wealth rises, people are even keener on professional expertise and want human-AI investment decision-making models, the report said.

Rapid ascent
“In the space of a few short years, AI has become ubiquitous,” the report said. It noted that nearly nine out of 10 of surveyed respondents use AI and do so across a variety of areas. Finance and investment top the list for use cases. Almost three-quarters of affluent and HNW investors use AI for this purpose (73 per cent), ahead of work and career (62 per cent), personal development (60 per cent), plus home and family (45 per cent).

The main roles that investors deploy AI for within finance and investment all involve intelligence gathering of some kind: 66 per cent use it for research and analysis, 50 per cent for strategy and 31 per cent as a second opinion for their own ideas.

The report said that regardless of age or wealth, the “desire for a collaborative approach to financial investment is clear and consistent.”

“On average, half of respondents say their ideal future decision-making process involves a combination of AI and advisors (50 per cent). This includes those who use AI to research options, then seek human guidance to validate their findings before acting on them, and those who want their advisor to use AI tools to support them”.

HSBC said that for the other 50 per cent, there is an even split between those who prefer AI-only and those who ideally just want a human advisor.