NEW YORK, NY, June 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corporate Insight (CI), the leading provider of competitive intelligence and customer experience research to the financial services industry, today announced the release of AI in Financial Services Today: The Opportunity, the Risk and the Emerging Reality, a comprehensive special report examining the current state of artificial intelligence deployment across consumer financial services.
The report draws on three complementary sources: CI's ongoing Monitor research across 21 verticals, in-depth consumer interviews conducted in January 2026, and a February 2026 survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults. Together, this research offers the most complete picture available of where financial institutions stand today in their AI deployment, the current landscape within different financial services verticals, how consumers respond to AI features, and what separates firms that are earning trust from those eroding it.
The Consumer Reality: High Usage, Low Enthusiasm
The survey data presents the current paradox for AI adoption in financial services. While 74% of survey respondents have used AI—and nearly a third use it multiple times per day—a plurality (43%) say they are more concerned than excited about AI's expanding role in society. Two-thirds (66%) believe their financial and insurance providers already use AI moderately or extensively, and their dominant interpretation of that deployment is negative, believing that firms implement AI to cut costs and replace human employees, rather than to provide improved service.
"The consumer this report describes is not champing at the bit to use AI in their financial decisions," says Olivia Jack, CI's director of financial services research. "Instead, nearly three in five survey respondents said they didn’t want AI involved while making investments. The average consumer disconnects from a chat the moment they think it’s an AI on the other end. Any roadmap for AI deployment has to start with that reality."
The survey identifies three "comfort drivers" that consistently improve consumer willingness to engage with AI: clear disclosure when AI is used, an easy path to a human at any point, and human review of AI decisions. These drivers are most impactful among the largest segment of respondents—those who are equally concerned and excited about AI—a group that firms can realistically move toward comfort with deliberate implementation choices.
The Competitive Landscape: A Widening Gap Between Fintechs and Incumbents
This research organizes consumer-facing AI across four core functions of increasing autonomy—AI Informs, AI Analyzes, AI Advises and AI Acts—to map where firms stand today.
Incumbents have so far concentrated their activity in the AI Informs area, where rule-based virtual assistants handle navigation and basic service queries. But the AI Analyzes area is beginning to heat up: Charles Schwab's Portfolio Insights, recently launched for select accounts, is the first client-facing generative AI feature at scale among traditional brokerages, and Citi's multilingual Sky agent for its Citigold platform signals further movement.
Fintech challengers have already moved into AI Advises and AI Acts territory. Origin delivers specific investment recommendations grounded in linked accounts and real-time market data. Composer enables automated trading strategy creation through natural language. Public's AI Agents feature and eToro's Agent Portfolios represent the emerging frontier of semi-autonomous trade execution and agent-platform integration.
"The capability gap between fintechs and incumbents is real," adds Jack. "But the more urgent problem for incumbents is what they have already built. In CI's testing, half of the virtual assistants offered by automated investing and workplace retirement providers failed on a single-word typo. The consumer trust required to take the next step in AI has to be earned somewhere. That process begins with fixing what already exists."
Access the Report
Organizations can contact Corporate Insight to learn how to access the AI in Financial Services Today report. Media seeking key findings and analyst perspectives should contact CI's press team to learn more.
Firms Covered in This Research
AInvest, Alight, Amica, Bank of America, BrightPlan, Cash App, Charles Schwab, Citi, Coinbase, Composer, E*TRADE, Empower, Enrich, eToro, Fidelity, Financial Finesse, Gemini, Goldman Sachs, Guardian, Highmark BCBS, Interactive Brokers, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lemonade, Magnifi, Monarch Money, NYU Langone Health, OnePay, Origin, Oscar, Principal, Public, Revolut, Robinhood, Seeking Alpha, SoFi, T. Rowe Price, TD Bank, TIAA, UBS, USAA, Vanguard, Voya, Webull, Wells Fargo
About Corporate Insight
Corporate Insight (CI) delivers competitive intelligence, user experience research and consulting services to the nation's leading financial services, insurance and healthcare organizations. As the recognized industry leader in customer experience research for over 30 years, CI offers a best-in-class research platform and a unique approach of analyzing the actual customer experience to help organizations advance their competitive position in the marketplace.
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Patrick Flood Corporate Insight (646) 876-7535 media@corporateinsight.com
