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Your next stock trade may not be your decision. Robinhood just launched a feature that lets AI agents handle stock trades and credit-card purchases for customers, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Users can link an AI agent like Anthropic’s Claude or the coding agent Cursor to a dedicated investment account, where it can place trades based on detailed instructions, like finding under-the-radar startup investments. Agents can also connect to a virtual version of users’ Gold credit cards to hunt for low prices, snag Broadway tickets or book hard-to-get restaurant reservations.
It’s not totally the wild west. Safety controls are baked in. Investors get a push notification for every trade, can set spending limits, require approval for every purchase and disconnect the agent at any time. Agents can’t access primary credit-card numbers or other account information. Robinhood joins a crowded field of financial firms embedding AI into customer services, though it remains to be seen whether investors will trust algorithms with a major chunk of their financial lives.