In the so-called \u201cWild West\u201d space of social media financial influencers (or \u201cfinfluencers\u201d), FINRA regulators warned that investors in the self-directed market are particularly at risk of fraud and poor advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During a panel at FINRA\u2019s annual conference in Washington, D.C., this month, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Workplace Compliance Director Megan Powers stressed that clients (and advisors) who use generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT may be inadvertently influenced by self-fashioned finfluencers.<\/p>\n
\u201c(ChatGPT\u2019s) learning from these social media influencers and blogs, et cetera. And that may or may not be relevant for an investor, right?\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s about not only understanding what these social media influencers are saying, but where is the AI getting its information and what input is the investor putting into it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Powers argued that as AI wields greater influence among influencers (and in advice more broadly), a financial advisor should act as an intermediary for clients, noting aberrant behaviors and escalating concerns when needed. However, in the self-directed space, the oversight layer that an advisor provides may be nonexistent.\u00a0<\/p>\n