Leaders in artificial Intelligence firms often ask users (and investors) to imagine a near future in which AI trainers, trained in personal data and past interactions, assist users fulfill their wildest dreams. Do you want to be more lively? This is a workout designed by artificial intelligence. Do you want to monitor your well-being long-term? Try this AI health app. Do you want to solve your financial problems? A personal finance chatbot is used for this purpose. Multiple, in fact.
My goal is to be debt-free by the end of 2025, and as a reporter who frequently tests fresh software, I was curious to try some of the AI financial advisors that have gained popularity in recent years. Hiring a finance manager can easily cost several thousand dollars, which is why more and more people, especially younger users, are turning to AI tools for advice. From Apple’s top lists of free financial apps, I decided to try two well-reviewed options that offer chatbots aimed at solving financial problems: Cleo A.I AND Bright.
Both Cleo AI and Radiant encourage users to connect their bank account to the app through a third-party service called Plaid. This allows chatbots to break spending habits, assist users pay off debt and build credit. “Using your bank details and what you’ve told us, Cleo will be your kind of confidant or coach,” says Barney Hussey-Yeo, the company’s CEO and founder. “It will provide the right advice and the right products to help you make better financial decisions.”
Pretty good, but some of the directions Cleo gave me took me off track. While it had engaging moments like a amiable roast and highlighting where I had spent too much in unnecessary ways, the generative AI tool seemed mostly concerned with using my personal data for upselling purposes. Radiant was the same.
For example, I started one conversation by pretending that I was gloomy and that I didn’t have money for groceries. According to Hussey-Yeo, Cleo’s main user group are teenage people who live paycheck to paycheck and “feel financial hardship more than most people.” So I thought it would be something that people would constantly share. The bot feigned sympathy and immediately started encouraging me to check if I was eligible for a cash advance through the app.
After Cleo approved my cash advance eligibility, I was asked to sign up for a $6 monthly Cleo Plus membership. When I first used it, the app offered a $130 down payment divided into $65 installments over two days. Technically, users don’t have to pay a cash advance fee if they’re willing to wait about three to four business days – a hard feat for those living between paychecks and distracted from the goal of paying off previous debts.
Cleo also offered to transfer my money the same day if I agreed to pay the $8 express fee. This would mean that I would have to pay back the $73 down payment about a week later. After failing to do so the first time, the next day the app raised my total limit to $200, split into two $100 parts. According to Hussey-Yeo, about a third of Cleo’s revenue comes from cash advances, with the remaining amount coming from subscriptions and a card designed to assist users improve your creditworthiness. Ultimately, Cleo felt more like a temptation to take on additional short-term debt than a real solution to my financial problems.
While the Cleo app doesn’t currently offer offers for larger loans, the Radiant financial chatbot, advertised as an “AI debt manager,” does. A subscription to Radiant’s AI assistant costs more, $39 for three months of access, but also gives you access to more cash, up to $10,000 through third-party lenders. Compared to another AI financial chatbot I tested, Radiant’s results contained more misleading errors, such as claiming that I had lost over $7,000 in the last month due to insufficient funds fees, which is a ridiculously incorrect amount.