Pension savers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI), rather than financial guidance or advice websites, to begin their retirement planning, according to PensionBee.

The pension provider analysed data on Google keyword searches and traffic to free advice websites, and found that AI was increasingly satisfying the typical, early-stage needs of pension holders when they start to consider pension and retirement options.

It noted that the rise of ‘AI Overviews’ may be reducing the need to go direct-to-source for important information from websites such as MoneyHelper.

Despite this, PensionBee noted that they do not seem to have hampered traffic to services that offer more bespoke guidance, such as Pension Wise.

It found that traffic to MoneyHelper had fallen by 10 per cent over the past six months, according to data gathered on Semrush, while there had been a steady rise in the number of AI Overviews generated from MoneyHelper’s content.

When asked how retired people or people approaching retirement in the UK were using ChatGPT and other AI tools to help with their financial planning, ChatGPT itself said they were “quietly but meaningfully” using ChatGPT and similar AI tools as a thinking partner, not a replacement for regulated advice.

The AI firm identified the primary uses in this category, including sense-checking retirement decisions, modelling ‘what-if’ retirement scenarios, translating pension jargon into more understandable language, tax awareness and planning, and co-ordinating the whole retirement picture.

“As many of us have experienced, AI is a generally good substitute for some financial guidance, but advisory services are better protected,” commented PensionBee head of data and AI, Luis Mejia.

“In the face of continued improvements to AI technology, the retirement industry faces a serious challenge of remaining relevant and trusted while savers increasingly rely on AI for more complex guidance and even personalised advice”.

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