How is Gen AI impacting the investment decision-making of young adults?

Abstract

Ever since the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, the adoption of generative AI has increased rapidly. Young adults are early adopters of new technology and have also shown increased interest in personal finance, making them the target group of this study. The aim of this research was to explore how generative AI is influencing the investment decision-making of young adults aged 18 to 28 living in Finland, and how they use such tools in investment-related matters. The study seeks to answer the research questions: “How do young adults use generative AI tools when making investment-related decisions?” and “How does generative AI influence the investment behavior and decision-making confidence of young adults?”. The Technology Acceptance Model by F. D. Davis (1985) and the Theory of Reasoned Action developed by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) constituted the theoretical framework for this study. The chosen data collection method was qualitative, using semi-structured interviews, and the data were analyzed using the Gioia Method. The results of this study show that the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of generative AI in investment-related questions are high, and that attitudes and behavioral intentions toward using such technological systems are generally positive. A limitation of this research is that it is not directly comparable to previous studies due to substantial differences in sample sizes.