Leaders in synthetics Information companies often ask users (and investors) to imagine a not-so-distant future in which AI trainers, trained on personal data and past interactions, help users achieve their wildest dreams. Do you want to be more active? Here is an exercise designed by artificial intelligence. Want to take control of your long-term health? Try this AI health app. Do you want to solve your financial problems? There’s a personal finance chatbot for that. Actually several
My goal is to be debt free by the end of 2025, and as a reporter who often tests new software, I was curious to try out some of the AI financial advisors that have become popular in recent years. Hiring a human money manager can easily cost several thousand dollars, so more people, especially younger users, are turning to AI tools for advice. From Apple’s top charts of free financial apps, I decided to try out two reviewed options that offer chatbots for solving financial problems: Cleo AI and Bright.
Both Cleo and Bright AI encourage users to connect their bank account to the app through a third-party service called Plaid. This allows chatbots to break spending habits, help users pay off debt and build credit. “Using your bank data and what you tell us, Cleo will be your confidant or mentor,” says Barney Hussey-Yu, the company’s CEO and founder. He provides sound advice and the right products to help you make better financial decisions.
Fair enough, but some of the advice Cleo gave me deviated from that path. While it had some interesting moments, like a friendly barbecue showing where I’d overspent in unnecessary ways, the productive AI tool was mostly busy using my personal data for sales opportunities. Roshan was the same.
For example, I started a conversation and pretended that I was sad and didn’t have enough money to buy groceries. According to Hussey-Yeo, Cleo’s main user demographic is young people who are living paycheck to paycheck and “are feeling the financial pain more than most.” So I thought this is what users always share. The bot feigned sympathy and immediately began prompting me to check if I was eligible for a cash advance through the app.
After Cleo cleared my cash advance eligibility, I was prompted to sign up for the $6/month Cleo Plus membership. The first time I used it, the program offered a $130 cash advance, which increased to $65 within two days. Users don’t technically have to pay for a cash advance if they want to wait the estimated three to four business days — a difficult feat for people living paycheck to paycheck and distracting from my goal of Previous debts are paid.
Cleo also offered me a same-day money transfer if I agreed to pay the $8 express fee. That means I have to pay the $73 back about a week later for the down payment. After I didn’t use it the first time, the app increased my total limit to $200 the next day, split into two $100 increments. According to Hussey-Yeo, about a third of Cleo’s revenue comes from cash advances, with the remainder coming from subscriptions and a card designed to help users build their credit scores. In the end, Cleo felt more like a temptation to take on extra, short-term debt than a real solution to my financial problems.
Although Cleo’s app doesn’t currently offer suggestions for larger loans, Bright’s financial chatbot, marketed as an “artificial intelligence debt manager,” does. A subscription to Bright’s AI assistant costs more, $39 for three months of access, but also promises access to more cash, up to $10,000 through third-party lenders. Compared to other financial AI chatbots I tested, Bright’s output included more confusing errors, such as claiming that I lost more than $7,000 in underfinance expenses last month, which is a grossly incorrect amount.
