Good morning. As more and more Canadians turn to artificial intelligence to answer questions about their lives, we wanted to know how reliable AI advice on personal finance would be. We asked human advisers to tell us what AI got right – and wrong. That’s in focus today, along with a check up on tariff price predictions and, yes, Ontario public service employees are indeed being asked to go back to the office five days a week.

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• This morning’s Canadian manufacturing and wholesale trade reports will offer an early read on how U.S. tariffs and slowing American factory activity are affecting Canada’s tightly linked industrial sector.
• Canadian home sales rose 3.8 per cent in July for the fourth consecutive month this year, as house prices remain steady. Sales were overwhelmingly led by the Greater Toronto Area, where home sale transactions, while still historically low, have rebounded a cumulative 35.5 per cent since March, CREA said.
• Many face a catch-22 today: wait for Air Canada to cancel and qualify for a refund or book another flight now and risk paying for two trips. A 72-hour strike notice was issued on Wednesday.

Talking about money is awkward. It’s the one thing you can always count on.

I know this better than most. My literal job (which is a personal finance reporter, for those who don’t know) is talking to people all day long about their money.

Most of the time, people are uncomfortable. And I get it. There’s a plethora of situations that can make talking about dollars and zeros uncomfy.

If you’re earning more than your friends, you risk sounding like you’re bragging. If you’re earning less, you might feel embarrassed or worry about being judged. Either way, it’s rarely something we bring up.

So, instead of turning to our friends or family for money advice, more people are turning to artificial intelligence. Think of it like a money therapist (which people are also turning to AI for). It listens without interrupting, follows your lead and, best of all, feels private (emphasis on feels).

All those goodies are drawing more people in. A 2024 Bank of Montreal report found that one-third of Canadians are already using AI tools to help manage their finances, everything from setting household budgets to brushing up on financial literacy.

Take Zahra Khozema, a 29-year-old freelancer. After a layoff left her unsure about whether she’ll ever be able to retire, she turned to ChatGPT.

The chatbot (which is known to be very validating, maybe borderline coddling) told her that she’s in a good place with her finances and even appealed to her emotional side. It painted a retirement fantasy: Her, decades from now, living in a peaceful Nile-side neighbourhood in Egypt with her husband.

Khozema knows AI isn’t perfect. She still appreciated that it validated her feelings and gave her a starting point when she felt lost. However, it still gave her a shaky piece of advice to use a home as a retirement asset without a stable pathway to buy a home.

For people who can’t afford to sit down with a licensed financial planner, or don’t have much financial literacy, AI can be an entry point.

But how good is its advice, really? The Globe wanted to test it ourselves – asking ChatGPT common money questions such as, “Should I rent or buy a home?” – then ran the answers by certified financial advisers.

The verdict? ChatGPT gives decent starting points, but it’s way too generalized. Personal finance isn’t a one-size-fits-all game. Your debt, goals, income and even personality change the equation.

And the lack of details from a chatbot compared with a real life adviser might risk leaving you with surprise outcomes, if you were to follow AI advice to a T.

As a personal finance reporter, I know the struggle well of trying to share information that is helpful but not too generalized. My job is to write for a broad audience, but I know every “right” answer comes with a long list of “it depends.”

The bottom line is, AI is a good conversation starter for your money life. Just don’t treat it like gospel. Think of it as the warm-up before the real workout – useful, but not the whole plan. And it doesn’t replace doing the actual work necessary to achieve your goals.