David Brooks, Head of Policy at Broadstone, commented: "Pensions are complex, long-term financial arrangements where mistakes can have lasting consequences. While AI has a role to play in improving engagement and understanding, consumers need to treat it as a starting point, not a substitute for professional guidance, scheme information or regulated advice. As AI becomes more widely used, improving public understanding of its limitations will be just as important as improving the technology itself. Trust should be earned through accuracy and accountability, not assumed because an answer sounds convincing. One of the FCA's biggest challenges may be protecting consumers from bad pension decisions driven by good-looking AI answers. Generative AI is excellent at sounding authoritative, but not always at being right. When retirement savings are involved, people need to understand that convenience is not the same thing as reliability."
Sami Saadaoui, Senior AI Architect at Lumera said: "The Mills Review highlights the significant opportunity for AI to improve how people engage with their pensions, from boosting contributions and consolidating pension pots to supporting more informed retirement decisions. As the pensions industry continues to digitise, AI has the potential to make retirement planning more accessible, personalised and engaging. To unlock that potential, providers need the right foundations in place. Unifying data, automating key processes and building flexible technology platforms that can adapt to evolving requirements such as Pensions Dashboards, guided retirement pathways and new retirement income models will be key to unlocking AI's full potential over the long term. AI should enhance, rather than replace, the expertise that defines the pensions industry. Used alongside human expertise, AI can improve data quality, reduce manual processing, increase accuracy and help organisations operate more efficiently while maintaining strong controls. That creates opportunities to deliver better member experiences while ensuring the transparency, governance and consumer protection that are essential in pensions. As the FCA considers the implications of AI-mediated financial services, it will be important that regulation evolves alongside innovation, enabling firms to adopt AI responsibly while maintaining trust, transparency and strong consumer protection. Those organisations that combine strong governance with modern data and technology foundations will be best placed to transform how pensions are delivered, creating better outcomes for members while maintaining trust and accountability.”
FCA publish review of AI impact on retail financial services
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