AI agents could spark a new kind of bank run by automatically yanking consumers’ cash out of low-paying checking accounts and chasing higher yields, Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk warned — the latest dire prediction about artificial intelligence in a wave of doomerism.
The threat to banks could emerge as personal AI agents such as Meta’s newly launched Muse gain access to users’ financial information while taking on a growing range of tasks on their behalf, the egghead explained.
“If every household used AI agents to optimize the return on their cash balances, banks could lose a large share of the cheap deposits they rely on to make loans, which would be a problem for the entire financial system,” Sløk wrote in a Sunday note.
For consumers, the incentive seems obvious: a $10,000 balance earning 0.1% generates about $10 a year in interest, while the same amount at 5% would earn roughly $500.
Sløk’s note identified 11 fintech and online accounts yielding 3.3% to 5% interest, with AdelFi topping the list at 5% and SoFi offering 4.5%.
By comparison, the FDIC national averages cited in the note were 0.4% for savings accounts and just 0.1% for checking.
But a potential windfall for savers could become a headache for banks if AI agents make it easier for customers to move cash out of low-paying accounts en masse — depriving lenders of the cheap deposits they rely on to fund loans.
Banks benefit when customers leave cash in low-yield accounts, allowing lenders to pay depositors relatively little while lending that money out at higher rates.
AI agents could threaten that model by making it easier for consumers to identify higher-yielding alternatives and shift their cash, Sløk noted.
Meta launched Muse on Sept. 8, trumpeting its ability to carry out tasks for users instead of just answering questions like your run-of-the-mill AI bot.
Financial services company Plaid says its network gives Muse access to user-authorized data from more than 12,000 US financial institutions and apps, including balances, transactions, investments and mortgage details.
Plaid has not specified whether Muse can actually transfer money between accounts.
Sløk framed automatic cash sweeps as something that “could soon” happen, rather than a capability Muse currently possesses.
His warning also rests on the technology being adopted on a massive scale.
Sløk shied away from estimating how much money could ultimately move out of traditional bank accounts — or how quickly that could happen.
Shama Hyder, a professor of practice at the Link School of Business in Miami, told The Post that Sløk is right about the broader threat AI poses to banks, but said the technology is not yet close to triggering a mass flight of deposits.
“Where I’d pump the brakes is the timing. A run-like event needs millions of households to hand an AI agent the keys to their checking account, and they aren’t there yet,” she said.
“People will use AI tools long before they trust them with the transfer button,” Hyder added.
Still, the prof said banks that heavily rely on customers leaving money in low-paying accounts could eventually face pressure as AI makes it easier to shop around for better rates.
“A bank that depends on customers not bothering to shop around has a business model built on friction, and AI is very good at removing friction,” Hyder told The Post.
The Post has sought comment from Meta and Plaid.