{"id":399263,"date":"2026-03-23T06:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/399263\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T06:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:18:10","slug":"trust-in-ais-financial-acumen-reaches-almost-40-neobank-survey-suggests-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/399263\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust in AI\u2019s financial acumen reaches almost 40%, neobank survey suggests \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a third of Irish people believe artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) bots are more trustworthy than humans or at least think we are more upfront when talking to machines about our finances, research published on Monday by one of Europe\u2019s largest neobanks suggests. <\/p>\n

The pan-European survey from Bunq<\/a> also found that just under half of those polled in Ireland said they were already using AI to make financial decisions, with many turning to it during moments of financial stress, and one in three saying it had saved them cash over the past 12 months. <\/p>\n

The study, conducted in seven countries around the European Union<\/a>, involved 1,000 Irish participants, with 36 per cent of those saying they felt more comfortable opening up to AI about their spending and a further 37 per cent saying they were just as honest with AI as they would be with another person.<\/p>\n

A total of 49 per cent of Irish consumers polled said they had already used AI to make personal financial decisions. Although the percentage is high, it is adrift of Spain where three-quarters of respondents said they were already using AI to manage their money better. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often start using AI in a very practical way, before they trust it emotionally,\u201d said Nick Hobson, behavioural scientist and consulting director at Influence at Work. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat psychological distance \u2013 almost like opening up to a stranger on a train \u2013 can make it easier to be honest about money, which in turn brings the real benefit: saving more of it. <\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, as people test the advice and see what works, the relationship shifts. It starts to feel like a thinking partner rather than a calculator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using AI to discuss their finances could have more far-reaching implications than the initial conversation for people, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt works like a sort of social gym. It offers a low-stakes space to rehearse the tricky conversations, asking for a raise, setting financial boundaries with family, without the fear of judgment that comes with the real thing,\u201d Hobson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce people experience what honesty about their finances actually produces, the barrier to having those conversations with other people gets lower. The practice spills over, and they show up to the human conversation a little more prepared, and a little less afraid.\u201d <\/p>\n

This sense of psychological safety could be translating into real-world impact. The study suggested that one in three respondents said AI helped them save money in the past year, and more than a quarter reported savings of more than \u20ac500.<\/p>\n

Ways people saved money by using AI included posing budgeting questions, identifying unnecessary expenses, setting savings goals, comparing options and asking more sensitive questions around personal finances.<\/p>\n

Bunq spokesman Joe Wilson said: \u201cIt\u2019s a dynamic time. People are increasingly turning to AI for help with everyday decisions and it only works when it\u2019s genuinely built around their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that looking at Bunq\u2019s own AI product\u2019s usage in Ireland, they can see similar patterns in practice, with the most frequently asked questions including \u201chow much did I spend on groceries this month?\u201d, \u201chow do I save money?\u201d and how much the user has spent since a certain date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a third of Irish people believe artificial intelligence (AI) bots are more trustworthy than humans or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[289,117441,18,2219,19,17,12094,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-399263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-bunq","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-money-matters","15":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116277038729768651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}