3 Big Ways AI Can Smooth Your Road to Retirement

The term “hyperbole” doesn’t apply when describing AI’s impact on our daily lives, especially at work. Large language models are not only reshaping methods of recruiting and hiring, forcing job-seekers to change how they build resumes and search for positions, but also how workers approach retirement savings and planning. Here are three examples of AI’s effect: 

Retirement Plan Impact

While Elon Musk boldly proclaimed on a recent podcast that saving for your retirement in 10 to 20 years “won’t matter,” thanks to AI and what he deemed its promise of universal “whatever you want to have” income, most financial professionals disagree. 

Building a nest egg while you’re working and contributing income to employer-sponsored plans like 401(k)s remain crucial to long-term financial stability. The good news is that AI, which is being slowly integrated into workplace retirement systems, may simplify the process. According to responses in a 2025 MetLife retirement study, AI will enable retirement platforms to: 

• Use predictive analytics to estimate participation levels in workplace plans.
• Automate more complex plan management tasks.
• Forecast future performance of workplace plans.
• Optimize their decisions on which benefits to offer.

From an employee perspective, meanwhile, plan sponsors who took part in MetLife’s study are optimistic about AI’s workplace effect, with 52% of respondents believing it will help workers select investment options based on their specific goals, and nearly half saying AI can help workers develop customized retirement strategies and select retirement income options based on their needs. Of course, with AI in particular, there are risks, such as privacy and security lapses, consumer overreliance on algorithms to make decisions and biases baked into the data that can diminish its value. 

The Algorithm Embrace

One of AI’s key benefits is that it satisfies our need for speed, providing immediate information-processing and answers to financial and retirement questions that would take much longer if you were working solely with a human financial advisor. 

For better or worse, retirement planning is now at the mercy of algorithms, with Gemini toplining Google search results pages, robo-advisors offering investment advice, money management, risk and reward analysis and retirement strategies, and chatbots replying to our every inquiry in lieu of a live agent. It can be frustrating, but immersion in AI actually seems to have had a positive effect. According to a 2025 Empower study, nearly half of those surveyed (47%) felt more comfortable incorporating AI into their financial lives than the year before, while two-thirds of respondents (66%) said long-term financial growth was the primary motivation for investing in the technology. 

Despite all the hoopla and convenience, however, AI is certainly not 100% foolproof at this point, which is why it works best as a complementary tool offering speed, scale and precision rather than a full-on replacement for humans, who can bring personal perspective and empathy to their financial advice. In fact, the human touch still holds value to those planning and saving for retirement, as the same Empower survey revealed that 62% of respondents want a financial professional’s input, especially for significant decisions like investing. 

A Healthcare Boon?

With rising costs in programs like Medicare B, AI implementation may help reduce expenses for both the healthcare industry and patients most in need. There are several examples of how AI can be most effective, including: 

• Reducing unnecessary tests, improving diagnostic speed and minimizing errors, which can save the industry billions of dollars.
• Providing real-time recommendations and automating repetitive administrative tasks, allowing doctors and nurses to spend more time on high-quality patient care.
• Offering predictive analytics that help identify patient risks early, optimize resources and prevent costly health complications.
• Providing faster, more accurate diagnoses through AI-driven imaging, in turn reducing the need for extra tests and specialist consultations. 
• Development of personalized treatment plans that can improve patient outcomes and reduce overall healthcare costs.

While AI can give people planning for retirement ballpark estimates of their future healthcare costs, it’s subject to the same limitations here as in its other capabilities. Since accuracy can’t be guaranteed, human oversight is still essential … for now.