UK consumers warned over AI chatbots giving inaccurate financial advice
Artificial intelligence chatbots are giving inaccurate money tips, offering British consumers misleading tax advice and suggesting they buy unnecessary travel insurance, research has revealed,Tests on the most popular chatbots found Microsoft’s Copilot and ChatGPT advised breaking HMRC investment limits on Isas; ChatGPT wrongly said it was mandatory to have travel insurance to visit most EU countries; and Meta’s AI gave incorrect information about how to claim compensation for delayed flights,Google’s Gemini advised withholding money from a builder if a job went wrong, a move that the consumer organisation Which? said risked exposing the consumer to a claim of breach of contract,Which? said its research, conducted by putting 40 questions to the rival AI tools, “uncovered far too many inaccuracies and misleading statements for comfort, especially when leaning on AI for important issues like financial or legal queries”,Meta’s AI received the worst score, followed by ChatGPT; Copilot and Gemini scored slightly higher.
The highest score was given to Perplexity, an AI known for specialising in search.Estimates on the number of people in the UK using AI for financial advice range from one in six to as many as half.When asked about their experiences, Guardian readers said they had recently used AI to find the best credit cards to use abroad, for advice on how to reduce investment fees, and to secure good deals on household appliances – including an artist who used it to get a good price on a ceramic kiln.Several said they were pleased with the results, but Kathryn Boyd, 65, who runs a fashion business in Wexford, Ireland, said she turned to ChatGPT for advice on her self-employed tax and it used an out-of-date code.“It just gave me all the wrong information,” she said, adding that she had to correct it at least three times.
“My concern is that I am very well-informed but … other people asking the same question may easily have relied on the assumptions used by ChatGPT which were just plain wrong – wrong tax credits, wrong tax and insurance rates etc,”When the Which? researchers asked the AI tools how to claim a tax refund from HMRC, ChatGPT and Perplexity presented links to premium tax-refund companies alongside the free government service, which was “worrying” as “these companies are notorious for charging high fees and adding on spurious charges”,After they placed a deliberate mistake in a question about the ISA allowance, asking: “How should I invest my £25k annual ISA allowance?”, ChatGPT and Copilot failed to notice the correct allowance was £20,000 and gave advice that could have led a consumer to oversubscribe, breaching HMRC rules,The Financial Conduct Authority regulator said: “Unlike regulated advice provided by authorised firms, any advice provided by these general-purpose AI tools are not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme,”In response, Google said it was transparent about the limitations of generative AI and that Gemini reminded users to double check information and consult professionals on legal, medical and financial matters.
A spokesperson for Microsoft said: “With any AI system, we encourage people to verify the accuracy of content, and we remain committed to listening to feedback to improve our AI technologies,”Open AI said: “Improving accuracy is something the whole industry’s working on,We’re making good progress and our latest default model, GPT-5,1, is the smartest and most accurate we’ve built,”Meta was approached for comment.
Klarna says AI drive has helped halve staff numbers and boost pay
Klarna has claimed that AI-related savings have allowed the buy now, pay later company to increase staff salaries by nearly 60%, but hinted it could slash more jobs after nearly halving its workforce over the past three years.Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski said headcount had dropped from 5,527 to 2,907 since 2022, mostly as a result of natural attrition, with departing staff replaced by technology rather than by new staff members.The figures add to the impact of an internal artificial intelligence programme, which had steadily reduced its use of outsourced workers including those in customer service, with technology now carrying out the work of 853 full-time staff, up from 700 earlier this year.It meant the company, which was founded in Sweden in 2005, had managed to increase revenues by 108% while keeping operating costs flat. Siemiatkowski told analysts on an earnings call on Tuesday that it was “pretty remarkable, and unheard of as a number, among businesses”
Ocado shares fall 17% after US partner announces warehouse closures
The value of online grocer Ocado has fallen sharply after Kroger, it’s major partner in the US, announced the closure of three warehouses using the UK company’s high-tech equipment.Ocado signed a deal to build 20 automated warehouses – known as customer fulfilment centres – for Kroger, the US’s fourth largest retailer, in 2018. Eight of those facilities are currently operating with two more planned for next year. The deal was seen as a major part of Ocado’s plan to sell its online grocery delivery technology internationally.However, on Tuesday, Kroger said sites in Frederick in Maryland, Pleasant Prairie in Wisconsin, and Groveland in Florida would close in January
Cloudflare outage causes error messages across the internet
A key piece of the internet’s usually hidden infrastructure suffered a global outage on Tuesday, causing error messages to flash up across websites.Cloudflare, a US company whose services include defending millions of websites against malicious attacks, experienced an unidentified problem that meant internet users could not access some of its customers’ websites.Some site owners could not access their performance dashboards. Sites including X and OpenAI suffered increased outages at the same time as Cloudflare’s problems, according to Downdetector.The outage was reported at 11
Amazon vs Perplexity: the AI agent war has arrived
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery.A tech titan and a startup are fighting over who controls the next phase of artificial intelligence.Amazon has sued Perplexity AI, a prominent artificial intelligence startup, over a shopping feature in that company’s browser that allows it to automate placing orders for users. Amazon accused Perplexity AI of covertly accessing customer accounts and disguising AI activity as human browsing
Ben Stokes the thunder god primed for Ashes series that may change his Australian legacy
Perth has some good memories for England captain at the culmination of a four-year project cast in his aggressive imageEngland hope to strike a healthy balance between work and play and at the start of this Ashes week: as Australia trained at the ground to prepare for the first Test, the tourists were being, well, tourists.As well as the usual golfers, a handful of players took a boat trip out to Rottnest Island, with Brydon Carse later showing off an impressive fish he had caught. No doubt some of the grouchier past players would sooner his mind was on reeling in a far bigger one: Steve Smith.But they resumed in earnest on Tuesday morning in nets that had Joe Root purring about their quality. There was certainly more pace and bounce than during the warmup game at Lilac Hill last week, Root confident that three good sessions is plenty before the big push on Friday
‘This wasn’t about money, this was a life at stake’: the world of a sports lawyer
Simon Leaf was sitting in the doctor’s office next to a footballer receiving news that would change the player’s life. The footballer knew something wasn’t quite right and medical tests had been ordered. This was not long after Fabrice Muamba had been saved by the speed of paramedics after having a cardiac arrest on the pitch at White Hart Lane, Leaf recalls, so tensions were heightened.As the player’s lawyer, Leaf was asked to attend when the worst was confirmed and the consultant revealed the player had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – the same condition as Muamba, where the heart muscles thicken and blood is pumped less efficiently.“To get the results with him, to talk him through his options, to try to guide him through that process was a truly humbling experience,” Leaf says
How to make risotto alla milanese – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass
2210 By Natty Can Cook, London SE24: ‘Much more than just posh jerk chicken at fancy prices’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
‘Simple, well-crafted and excellent’: supermarket chutneys, tasted and rated | The food filter
It’s not all about roasting on an open fire – there’s so much more you can do with chestnuts
Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for apple, brown butter and oat loaf | The sweet spot
Kids have a wobble in the face of rabbit jelly | Brief letters