Financial News & Article
🤖 An AI assistant that handles your emails and pays your bills? That sounds pretty convenient.
But how much access are you comfortable giving it?
Personal AI agents are designed to handle tasks on your behalf, sometimes using sensitive information like banking details and email accounts. And while they may save time, some cybersecurity professionals warn that granting them too much access carries risks.
One concern is something called prompt injection, where malicious instructions hidden in a website or email could trick an AI agent into doing something you never authorized.
🔐 A couple of questions worth asking before giving an AI agent access to sensitive information:
▪️What information does it need? Researching products doesn’t necessarily require access to your accounts.
▪️Can it make purchases? There’s a difference between comparing prices and authorizing transactions.
Convenience and privacy don’t always go hand in hand. Reviewing what an agent has done on your behalf may help spot actions you never intended.
🛍️ What if you and another shopper paid different prices for the exact same groceries?
AI could make that scenario more common.
Retailers are exploring personalized pricing, which may use data such as browsing habits, ZIP codes, and purchasing behavior to determine what individual shoppers are willing to pay.
In one Instacart pricing experiment, researchers found that identical grocery baskets cost some shoppers up to 23% more than others. Instacart disputed aspects of those findings and later ended the experiment.
As AI becomes more involved in retail, it raises an interesting question: Will the price you see depend on who's shopping? 🤖
Treasury yields pulled back from their recent highs after a strong auction eased some concerns about demand for government debt.
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed as high as 5.35%, its highest level since 2002, before easing following the Treasury's sale of $39 billion in 10-year notes.
Demand at the auction was stronger than average, particularly from indirect bidders such as global central banks, which accounted for 80.3% of the sale, compared with a 10-auction average of 72.4%.
The broader backdrop is still one of elevated yields, with investors weighing persistent inflation, rising energy prices, and expectations that the Federal Reserve may raise rates again before year-end.
For now, the auction offered a little reassurance that demand for longer-term Treasurys remains strong even as yields sit near multidecade highs.
Social Security recipients will receive a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2027, translating to approximately $75 more per month on average.
The increase comes as inflation continues to affect everyday expenses. September's Consumer Price Index showed prices rising 3.7% over the past year.
But will the adjustment be enough? A September AARP survey found that roughly three-quarters of adults age 50 and older didn't believe a 3.5% COLA would keep pace with rising prices.
The actual increase will vary by recipient, and expenses such as health care, housing, and groceries may affect how far that additional income goes.
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