George Kamel - VISA Wants AI To Spend Your Money (What Could Go Wrong?)

Starting point is 00:00:05 Imagine this. You're sitting on your couch and mentioned to your brand new AI assistant that you need some new shoes. The next day, you get a knock at the door, and it's the UPS guy, delivering a pair of size 10 Dragon Ball Z Echo Clog Crocs, complete with a 3D Winnie the Pooh jibbets. I hate it here. Welcome to the future of shopping, courtesy of AI-powered shopping assistants. This is actually happening. I'm not just talking about the gibbets. I'm talking about the AIA part. So today, let's look into the rise of these so-called personal shoppers by breaking down exactly what they are and who's behind. them. Along the way, you're going to learn the right way to use AI for helping you make smart purchases. Alright, here's the scoop. Some big-name companies like Visa and MasterCard have begun developing

Starting point is 00:00:45 AI agents designed to level up your shopping game by straight up buying stuff for you instead of just helping you find things. A few of these programs are already in beta testing. How does it work? Well, let's say you need to buy a heavy-duty office chair for your mom because she's built Ford Tough and broke her last one, respectfully. Instead of typing in best office chairs under $200 and scrolling through 87 options, she can just tell the AI to take care of it for her. Then it searches, selects, and buys the chair based on the spending limits, you give it. And weight limits, most likely. No clicking or browsing required. Basically, it's like having your own personal concierge. Except this one never sleeps, has direct access to your bank account, and is weirdly convinced

Starting point is 00:01:25 that you need another pair of acid wash juggings. And while these programs currently require all transactions to be initiated by a human, I do feel like it's only a matter of time before they get to the point of, hey, I bought you Coachella tickets because I saw your favorite Australian psych rock band is going to be there. King, Desert, and the Lizard Wizard. Now, if this stuff seems cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, let's take a look at some news articles that prove I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat. Here's one from Forbes. MasterCard and Visa unleash AI agents to shop for you. Here's a quote from it. A new era of intelligent, autonomous shopping is quickly taking shape, and two of the world's biggest payments networks are leading the charge. Within days of each other,

Starting point is 00:02:04 MasterCard and Visa both unveiled AI agent capabilities that allow intelligent software to make purchases on behalf of consumers." End quote. All right, a very Forbes businessy take on this whole thing. Let's see if anyone has a spicier take, a little angle on it. Here's one from AP News. VISA wants to give artificial intelligence agents your credit card. Now that's a headline right there. Here's a quote from the article. We think this could be really important, said Jack Forrestell, Visa's chief product and strategy officer, in an interview. Transformational. On the order of magnitude of the advent of e-commerce itself. All right, Jack, let's settle down here. I don't think buying crocs with gibbets automatically means the order of magnitude of the advent of e-commerce itself. A little much there. A little much.

Starting point is 00:02:50 But of course, Jack Forrestell is going to have a very bright and shiny opinion of this new product that he's in charge of. But let's see what MasterCard had to say about this in their own press release. Here's the headline. Consumers demand more choice and control over how they check out. Do they demand? Who's out there going, I want more choice and control. Let the robots do the shopping for me. I'm too lazy.

Starting point is 00:03:13 Are these extras from Wally? Is that where they found these people? Here's the quote from the press release. Here's how it works. Imagine a financially independent consumer in her 20s named Erica. What 20-year-old is financially independent? Okay, continue.

Starting point is 00:03:26 With one credential, Erica can tailor her payment preferences so they're optimized for her household expenses. She can choose to pay for daily expenses under $100 like groceries and fuel from her checking account, charge expenses over $100 to credits, and pay for the occasional larger purchase via installments. First of all, I thought she was financially independent.

Starting point is 00:03:45 Why is she having to put a thing for $101 on a credit card? This makes no sense. Let me finish. Erica can set her preferences online or in an app with full control over how each transaction is funded and a holistic view of her spending. Here's my hot take on this. If she's smart enough to figure all this out,

Starting point is 00:04:03 she's smart enough to not go into debt for $101 purchase. Give her some credit, MasterCard. She's financially independent after all. This is our girl, Erica, we're talking about. Financially ind-shut up. Don't tell me what to do. This is exhausting already. So what do I think of all this?

Starting point is 00:04:18 I think you're getting the gist so far. But let me start by saying, I don't have a problem with using AI to help you shop. I think that can actually be smart. I use it all the time to do research. But that said, we need to talk about four potential risks of these new AI shopping assistants. because beneath the surface, these programs are really just the next big move for credit card companies

Starting point is 00:04:37 to try to skim a bigger portion of your income. And that's why risk number one of AI shopping assistance is frictionless spending. Translation, they want you to spend your money so fast and so easily that you barely even realize it happened. You used to have to type in your shipping address, manually enter your card info, triple check your cart, see the final total and bold before hitting place order. And now you just mumble, need a new sweater. And before you know it, a single-use cardigan from Sheen arrives on your porch, and a charge hits your bank account.

Starting point is 00:05:02 So as friction goes down, the danger of overspending goes up. That's literally Apple-Paste tagline, cashless made effortless. They want it to be so easy to spend to hand over your hard-earned money to these big corporations. Which leads me to risk number two. Less connection to your money. When you're not the one swiping the card or clicking the checkout button, you lose any kind of connection to your money, emotional or otherwise. It's like asking a stranger to break up with your girlfriend for you.

Starting point is 00:05:28 You get to avoid the discomfort of having to lie and say you still want to be friends, but you also avoid the responsibility. These programs make it feel like we're headed to this Wally future where people don't even want to think about anything, let alone money. And that's a huge problem. Because when you lose connection to your money, you also lose control. And that's why you need to be in the driver's seat with your money, not just wandering aimlessly and hoping for the best.

Starting point is 00:05:49 You've got to set real goals and work toward them with intentionality. And these AI shopping assistants do the opposite of that. And speaking of goals, risk number three, derailing your money goals. Allow me to show you why I doubt. AI is sophisticated enough to strategically use your money to crush your financial goals. I just asked Chad GPT to write a joke that my YouTube audience is absolutely going to love. Here's the result. I started a budget last week and already lost five pounds of money off my debit card at Chick-fil-A.

Starting point is 00:06:23 Straight to jail. Straight to jail, Chad GPT. This is who we're supposed to entrust with our money, folks. We are screwed. For real, though, I can't imagine these AI assistants are going to care if you're saving for a house or trying to pay off debt or investing in your kids college fund, even if you tell them to. But either way, you can't forget that their main goal is optimizing for profit and convenience. And that's going to cost you big time when it comes to winning with money long term.

Starting point is 00:06:49 And risk number four, data privacy. The big pitch for AI shoppers is that they're more secure, that they can fight online shopping scams better than we can. But here's what they don't tell you. For AI to protect your money, it needs full access to it. And that means more data sharing, more stored credentials, more places for things to go wrong. And when your AI starts shopping for you, that means a fraudster just needs to trick your AI, not even you. And good luck being on the internet ever again with all the

Starting point is 00:07:14 targeted ads AI will throw your way now that it knows every financial move. And remember, this is still very new technology. And as anyone who's been an early adopter of a new piece of tech knows, that means it's going to be prone to bugs, glitches, and accidentally adding an extended warranty for that electric butter spreader, link in bio. Now, even though they're not a sponsor of this episode, I highly recommend using Delete Me, which can scour the internet for all these data broker sites that have your personal info to remove them to protect you and keep you safe. So be sure to check them out. All right, that covers the four major risks of AI personal shoppers.

Starting point is 00:07:45 So what do we do about all this? Should we run for the hills or embrace this new tech like men in their 60s have embraced jean shorts and hokas? Well, like I said earlier, I don't have a problem with using AI to help you shop, but you need to put a few key guardrails in place, and I'll share them with you in one second. But first, let me ask you a question. where do you keep your long-term savings? Because if that money is sitting in a regular old savings account at a brick-and-mortar bank,

Starting point is 00:08:07 you'll earn about enough interest to treat yourself to one order at your favorite drive-thru once a year. Just one, no extra sauce. They charge for those now. And that's why I use a high-yield savings account with online bank Laurel Road, a sponsor of today's video. They offer competitive APY that actually helps your money grow, along with no monthly maintenance fees and no minimum balance required to open an account. Plus, your deposits are FDIC insured, which means they are safe and secure.

Starting point is 00:08:30 So if you're ready for an upgrade, head to laurelroad.com slash George or click the link in the description. Okay, here's how to actually use AI to help you shop responsibly. First, remember that AI is shaping your shopping habits. These tools are literally designed to influence what you buy and when you buy it. So if you notice you're buying stuff faster more often and with less thought, that's not efficiency. That is subtle manipulation with a friendly user interface. Next, stay hands-on with your money. Don't just set it and forget it.

Starting point is 00:08:58 you need to always know exactly what's coming in, what's going out, and what is sitting in your cart. So even if you let AI help you browse or compare, you should still be the one making the final call on the purchases. And the best way to stay on top of your spending is to make a budget every single month. That becomes the boss of your money. And you don't need a pen and paper. I use a slick app called Every Dollar. I'll drop a link in the description below if you want to go check it out. Now finally, don't outsource your financial decisions to tech.

Starting point is 00:09:23 AI doesn't know your values. It doesn't know your goals. It doesn't know the stress you're feeling. It doesn't know that your kid needs braces, that you're hustling to pay off your student loans. AI might know how to predict behavior and do some research, but it doesn't know how to help you build wealth and shape those habits. So the minute you start letting an algorithm decide where your money goes, you lose control. And that's no bueno. So I do use Chad GPT to help me research and compare products that I'm looking at, but that's where it stops.

Starting point is 00:09:48 I do the purchasing from there. And if you want a video breaking down how I do this, let me know in the comment section, and maybe I'll make one in the future. So the bottom line from everything we've talked about today, this is your. Your life, it's your money, and you shouldn't mindlessly delegate it to a robot trained by credit card companies. And if you want a deeper dive into what it actually looks like to be intentional with your spending, I break it down in my book Breaking Free from Broke. It's basically a crash course in learning how to take back the wheel and stop letting marketing or machines control your money. I'll leave a link in the description for this book and the audiobook version, read by yours truly.

Starting point is 00:10:18 And by the way, this isn't the only new money trend you need to be careful about. I recently made a video breaking down the new predatory partnership between DoorDash and Klarna that lets you finance Burrera, It is very real and very stupid. So keep watching to check it out or click the link in the description. That's it for today. Be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, or at least have AI do it for you. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

George Kamel - VISA Wants AI To Spend Your Money (What Could Go Wrong?)

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