New research from Empower explores how Americans are seeing the "AI Advantage" with nearly half of Americans (47%) feeling more comfortable using the tool in their financial lives compared to a year ago.
Some 56% of people say they would use AI to recommend money moves to plan for retirement, provide tips to consolidate debt (58%), and help with budgeting (54%).
Importantly, 62% of Americans value the human component of financial advice, especially for significant financial decisions like investing. Many Americans see AI as a powerful tool to complement human expertise in financial decision-making: 61% say they would use AI alongside human financial advisors to achieve better results.
AI at work
AI is becoming a regular part of the modern workplace, with 58% of Americans currently using AI tools in some capacity while on the job. Among these users, 60% rely on AI mainly for writing and other content-generation tasks. While AI adoption is growing, more than a third (34%) say they do not use AI at work. Others are uncertain about their company's policy on AI usage at the office (38%).
AI is indispensable for some - 28% of Americans, including 29% of Millennials and 27% of Gen Z, can't imagine working without these tools. But there is hesitation around adoption: Only 15% of Americans have received AI-specific training at work, and 14% avoid AI altogether due to fears it may one day replace their job.
Gen Z employees are leveraging AI to support their professional growth and workplace readiness: Over half of them (52%) use AI tools to build or edit their resumes, streamlining the job application process. Nearly half of Gen Zers (47%) use AI to prepare for important presentations, while 43% rely on it to practice for job interviews.