By Hannah Erin Lang

Artificial intelligence is coming to the world of investment advice, and it can speak in Gen Z slang.

That is the pitch from Arta Finance, a wealth-management startup led by an ex-Google executive and backed by the former chief executive of Swiss-banking stalwart UBS. Arta is rolling out an AI assistant that can dispense financial advice in spoken conversations -- and in any preferred tone and argot. Even for the 20-something millionaire set.

"Low-key gonna break down ur investment plan rn," the Arta assistant says, responding to a client's query on his investment portfolio. "No cap, ur portfolio is fire!"

The AI tool won't recommend any investments that don't match customers' stated appetite for taking risks. And it definitely won't trade on its own without the users' consent -- it isn't that kind of artificial intelligence. But it can walk through the pros and cons of specific stocks, point out cost-saving tax strategies and offer advice on how someone might tweak their investment strategy if they take a pay cut.

Arta, led by Caesar Sengupta, is betting that younger, digital-native Americans will value mobile apps, convenience and lower fees over the face-to-face advice their parents and grandparents received from traditional financial advisers.

"This is essentially a relationship that is available on your phone at any point in time," said Sengupta, Arta's CEO and co-founder.

Arta, whose platform is also available through a desktop app, isn't the only upstart wealth-management firm to tout its mobile services or even push into AI. Just last week, Robinhood Markets unveiled an AI assistant for its brokerage platform. And with fees on many financial services under siege from low-cost options, many banks and brokerages are eager to provide financial advice to a wealthier clientele who pay higher fees.

Arta's platform is currently only available to accredited investors, meaning users will need well over six figures in assets to qualify. The company is also looking to license its technology to other financial firms, Sengupta said.

Ralph Hamers, the former CEO of UBS and then ING, said AI tools like Arta's can reshape the financial-advice industry. He doesn't think AI is coming for financial advisers' jobs.

"How can you use technology to bring that to a much broader, much wider part of the market?" said Hamers, who is an investor and adviser at Arta. "It isn't necessarily directly in competition."

Write to Hannah Erin Lang at hannaherin.lang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 01, 2025 12:26 ET (16:26 GMT)

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