The same algorithm Gen Z fears is managing its portfolio

More than half of Gen Z, 51%, say AI poses the greatest threat to their job security, according to an iCIMS Workforce Report .

That anxiety persists even as 87% of Gen Z workers already use AI for professional purposes, and even as 24% say folding AI into their daily work has led to burnout, according to a new Robert Half survey .

The same generation that names AI as its biggest professional threat is also the most willing of any to hand it real power over its money.

In Betterment’s 2026 Retail Investor Survey —1,000 U.S. investors fielded in late March—48% of Gen Z investors say AI has already influenced a financial decision they made, and 41% say they’re comfortable using AI for long-term financial planning.

Among Baby Boomers, both figures sit at 5%.

Once you isolate people who already pay for human advice, AI has an even greater influence.

Betterment Advisor Solutions’ 2026 survey , fielded in June among 1,001 people with a standing advisor relationship, found 65% of Gen Z clients say AI has influenced a decision they wouldn’t otherwise have made—the highest of any generation, well above the 24% figure among retail investors with no advisor at all.

These are people already paying a human for judgment.

Most are still letting the algorithm they say might end their career quietly co-sign their portfolio.

“Investors want more ways to understand and engage with their finances, but they also need help turning all that information into decisions,” Devon Klumb, a CFP at Betterment, told Fortune .

Not hypocrisy so much as bad instruments It would be easy to call this hypocrisy and move on.

But a closer read of the underlying research suggests something more structural: Gen Z isn’t knowingly contradicting itself, it’s triangulating with instruments it doesn’t fully trust.

Charles Schwab’s Modern Wealth Survey found Gen Z begins investing at 19 on average, 16 years earlier than Baby Boomers did at 35, and 48% say they learn about investing primarily from social media.

But they know not to trust influencers: when asked who they actually trust with financial guidance, Gen Z ranks parents and financial professionals above social media, not below.