PayPal CEO Bill Harris on his new AI financial advisor: ‘It’s not a chatbot’

Bill, thanks for joining us. You are no stranger to building out companies. Former PayPal CEO. I believe you built about eight fintech companies. So, what was the whitespace opportunity that you saw with this one? >> Well, first Brooke, thanks for having me here. That's great. Um, I've been building financial technology for 35 years through personal cap, sorry, for personal computers and the internet and mobile and now AI. And I have to say there has never been an opportunity to do so much for so many uh than there is right now. >> I think that one thing that people are worried about is data collection right now with this AI momentum. So what's your word to a user who is a little bit concerned about about handing over this amount of very personal data? Well, I think it is a real concern and so uh it's one of the reasons why we've built a purpose-built uh AI for one purpose only, which is personal financial advice. And as is, um as opposed to a generic AI, we're doing everything internal within our walls. Nothing gets trained. Nothing is sent over the open internet. And so we're dedicated to securing your financial information. We are a registered investment adviser and we have to do that. It's um it's part of our pledge to the government, our legal obligation to the government to act in your interest and not in our own. >> I think it's really interesting too that you're still in this beta period and until January 1st, 2028, this will come at no cost. Now, the battle or the challenge when that time comes might be maintaining these users who have used the platform for free. So, what could the cost look like here and who is your key audience? >> Well, the first thing I'd say is that it's beta users who will have access until the beginning of uh 2028. Um, and so when we are out of our beta period, it will be a paid service. Um, and we will add things like um investment management and um uh lifetime planning. What are some of the questions that you're seeing these beta users ask the most on the platform so far? >> Well, it's interesting. I mean, it's all over the place. Um, for the tech community, it's often uh equity compensation. For many people, it's uh can I retire early? >> And what you're showing on the screen right now is one of the tools we have that can help you determine what's the difference if I were to retire at 65 or at 60. What do I have to do now in terms of savings? And what is the sacrifice I'm making later in terms of the amount of money that I'll have to live securely? >> For some of these big major life moments like maybe buying a house or planning that retirement, it seems like a lot to trust entrust yourself in a a robot to help make this decision. So, what would you say to that? These big life moments and you're turning to a chatbot. >> Well, first I wouldn't call it a robot. um robots today's robots are not very smart. Uh secondly, it's not a chatbot. A chatbot is a generic um mechanism that answers any question you've got on any topic. We're building we're building a specialized system for uh financial questions. And what you end up with is something that knows more than any human adviser. It's calculates faster than any human adviser and follows you around 24 hours a day. Bill, there is this growing fear of AI replacing jobs. So, does this replace that human advisor? Is it a supplement for it? >> Well, I don't think that's the major. It is to some extent a threat to existing financial institutions, but far more. It is a godsend to people who need good financial advice and currently don't get it. What would you say is an example of how someone can go in and use this system to maybe get them to the next step in life? >> Well, you just mentioned um to buy or rent a house and that's something that faces a large number of families um as they grow and as their finances get more complex um add that to uh potential relocation. And so now you're talking about differentials in housing prices and rental prices. You're talking about differences in tax rates. And so it's a very complex decision. We can simplify that, calculate all of those pieces and synthesize it for you in seconds. >> Bill, I know I asked this before, but I'm so curious. Who is your target audience here? Because are you trying to build something maybe, say, with a young 20-year-old and and go through their life with them, or is this someone who's maybe much older and you're trying to help them figure out their next step? Well, we built it so that anyone can use it and we think it's valuable for many people. However, um where it really becomes u special is when you have complex finances and you are making consequential decisions. So there are many ways to think about that. Uh income ranges, uh complexity of your lifestyle, are you married? Do you have kids? Do you own a home? Um and assets. Um, if I was to try and pin it down demographically, I think the people who can get the most value out of what we do might have um, incomes between, let's say, $125,000 and $250,000, maybe higher depending if you're in New York or California. Obviously, it's higher. Um, and with assets of, let's say, something between $200,000 and $2 million. Bill, I'd like to sort of end this the way we started it because you have built a ton of other companies and you have to have some sort of feeling about the beginning of this one. What does this moment building this brand, building this company out remind you of? >> Well, it reminds me of the very first time that I was ever starting a company and that was PayPal. And you know that was in the Elon days and the Peter Teal days and all that, but it was a small group of people trying to do something big and important. And the most important thing is that the TAM the um the market the possible market is huge and quite frankly financial advice and investment management is even larger than electronic payments. >> Bill Harris, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. Best of luck and I'm excited to follow along on the journey.