MILWAUKEE, August 5, 2025 – New research from financial services company Northwestern Mutual finds a majority of Milwaukee adults do not yet trust artificial intelligence (AI) to exclusively perform a wide variety of tasks – including driving cars, teaching classes, umping baseball games, providing healthcare and childcare, and producing artwork like movies, books, music and paintings.
| How trusting are you of leveraging AI / GenAI to take over for… | ||
| Trusting | Untrusting | |
| Human umpires and referees in professional sports | 36% | 64% |
| Humans driving cars (i.e. self-driving vehicles) | 29% | 71% |
| Nurses when obtaining your medical history / existing symptoms for your doctor visit | 29% | 71% |
| Teachers and professors for core curriculum classes | 29% | 71% |
| Parents for keeping kids accountable and teaching them about responsibility | 23% | 77% |
| Artists to produce movies, books, music, paintings, etc. | 31% | 69% |
Additionally, by a wide margin, most Milwaukeeans today continue to trust financial advisors with their money management over AI tools alone. These are the latest findings from Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning & Progress Study, the company’s proprietary research series that explores attitudes, behaviors, and perspectives across a broad set of issues impacting their long-term financial security.
“Technology is evolving at an astonishing rate, almost as quickly as Milwaukeeans’ views of how it should be put to use,” said Melinda Wilke, Founder of Wilke Wealth & Investment Planning, and a Wealth Management Advisor with Northwestern Mutual. “While nearly a quarter of Milwaukeeans use AI in their personal time or at work, they are a little apprehensive about handing over their important financial matters and decisions to technology without the engagement of a trusted financial advisor. That said, people feel that technology can lend an assist, with nearly half saying they would actually prefer to work with an advisor who understands AI and uses it to help their clients build financial security.”
The research shows that across just about any financial planning scenario, Milwaukeeans trust humans more than AI solely.
| Who do you trust more in the following scenarios? | ||||
| Trust Humans More | Trust AI / Gen AI More | Trust Both the Same | Not Sure | |
| Creating a retirement plan | 61% | 9% | 17% | 13% |
| Asking a financial question | 59% | 13% | 19% | 9% |
| Developing a tailored, robust financial plan | 58% | 10% | 19% | 12% |
| Making asset allocation decisions, building and managing investment portfolios | 57% | 11% | 16% | 16% |
| Creating a savings plan | 63% | 8% | 17% | 12% |
| Recommending financial products | 56% | 9% | 19% | 16% |
| Making updates to your personal customer information | 57% | 14% | 19% | 11% |
| Providing financial savings tips | 50% | 12% | 25% | 13% |
| Managing a budget and keeping me on track | 54% | 12% | 22% | 12% |
“AI has enormous potential to help an advisor build and maintain a comprehensive financial plan, and, in fact, we increasingly incorporate it into our planning process,” said Wilke. “But advisors know financial planning is about much more than numbers and data – it’s about the people behind the numbers, how they want to live their lives, and the legacy they wish to leave behind. Those important details require in-depth conversations over time that a tech tool simply can’t replace.”
For more information about the study, visit https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-study-2025.
About the 2025 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study
The 2025 Planning & Progress Study was conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Northwestern Mutual among 4,626 U.S. adults aged 18 or older. The survey was conducted online between January 2 and January 19, 2025. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, household income, and propensity to be online to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. A complete survey methodology is available.
About Northwestern Mutual
Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 165 years. Through a comprehensive planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what’s most important. With nearly $700 billion of total assetsi being managed across the company’s institutional portfolio as well as retail investment client portfolios, more than $38 billion in revenues, and $2.4 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to more than five million people with life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. Northwestern Mutual ranked 109 on the 2025 FORTUNE 500 and was recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the “World’s Most Admired” life insurance companies in 2025.
Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (investment brokerage services), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company® (NMWMC) (investment advisory and services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance). Not all Northwestern Mutual representatives are advisors. Only those representatives with “Advisor” in their title or who otherwise disclose their status as an advisor of NMWMC are credentialed as NMWMC representatives to provide investment advisory services.
