The Barefoot Investor Scott Pape's routine school drop-off took an unexpected turn this week when a teacher confronted him about advice he never actually gave.
The finance commentator initially feared his child was in trouble, only to learn the teacher had questions for him instead.
'I saw you on the internet advising people to sell everything because of the budget,' the teacher said.
Pape was instantly shocked, as he had never made those comments and in fact supported many of the measures Anthony Albanese announced in the Budget.
'I'm not even on social media - but there are hundreds of AI-generated posts claiming I am, complete with photos of me looking like a washed-up Blue Heelers extra who never made it out of the pilot episode.'
The encounter prompted a broader warning from Pape about the growing influence of artificial intelligence and the risks of relying on it for financial guidance.
'AI isn't designed to tell you the truth, its sole aim is to keep you coming back,' he said.
Pape said AI chatbots are increasingly being used for everything from relationship advice to investment decisions.
'Today ChatGPT is the largest provider of financial advice in the world. More than 200 million people a month ask it for money advice, and last week OpenAI went further: US users can now hand it the keys to their actual accounts and get tailored financial advice. Australia won't be far behind.'
Pape argued that AI can build convincing cases for almost any financial decision a user wants to make.
'Ask it to validate the hot stock tip your brother-in-law gave you. It'll find reasons it could work. Ask it to explain why you deserve a boat. It'll build you a spreadsheet. Ask it whether you really need to pay off your mortgage or whether you could just invest the difference in crypto. It will construct a beautifully logical argument for whichever answer you were hoping.'
'It's a yes-man with a PhD.'
However, he also criticised the traditional financial advice industry, saying many Australians pay high fees for advice that is often unnecessarily complicated.
'Let's look at the alternative: seeing a real financial adviser will cost you five grand, minimum. And a lot of people walk out with a template of common sense, and a portfolio so complicated they have no hope of understanding it.'
'Which is exactly the point. Complexity is their job security. That 1% annual fee quietly bleeds you of tens of thousands of dollars a year and almost guarantees you'll underperform a simple index fund.'
'So you're stuck. A bot that flatters you, or an industry that confuses you on purpose.'
Instead, Pape urged Australians to stick to proven wealth-building fundamentals.
'After two decades of writing this column, I can tell you the one thing that separates people who build real wealth from everyone else: they made decisions that felt bad in the short term.'
'They knuckled down and saved up for a deposit when the market was flying. They kept their boring low-cost super when crypto was mooning. They said no when every algorithm and influencer said yes.'
'Build your career. Boost your super. Pay off your home.'
'And you don't need an AI to tell you that.'
