Join us in restoring human agency—helping citizens use AI to prevent financial exploitation, challenge institutional power and pursue recovery.
For years, consumer campaigners have asked financial institutions to behave better.
Be more transparent. Treat people fairly. Investigate properly. Put things right when harm occurs.
We take evidence to regulators. We speak to parliamentarians. We attend meetings, contribute to consultations and explain what needs to change.
That work matters. But while we keep asking the Goliaths to behave, who is equipping the Davids?
What if citizens could become dramatically more capable in their dealings with financial services—starting now?
Authority must survive interrogation
Imagine receiving a letter rejecting your complaint.
It sounds authoritative. It refers to technical provisions, explains the institution’s position and presents its conclusion with confidence.
Previously, you might have accepted it because you lacked the knowledge, money, time or energy to challenge it.
Now imagine using AI to ask:
“Compare this response with my evidence. Which questions have they answered? Which have they avoided? What supports their conclusion?”
Then:
“Help me identify what needs verifying and prepare a clear, evidence-based reply.”
That cannot guarantee a successful outcome. But it can change your ability to participate.
The institution still has its resources. You now have a better way to organise yours.
Authority increasingly has to survive interrogation. Our task is to equip citizens to do the interrogating.
Reform from above. Agency from below.
On 2 November 2026, the APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services is scheduled to hold a consumer protection summit at the House of Commons. Its published programme includes stronger protections, better access to redress and greater institutional accountability.
These are important objectives. Some failures require legislation, enforcement and structural reform.
But a person facing financial exploitation cannot put their life on hold while the system discusses its next steps.
They need to understand what has happened. Protect themselves against further harm. Preserve their evidence. Identify their options. Find appropriate help.
There are two complementary routes to change:
From above: change the rules, incentives and institutions.
From below: increase citizens’ ability to understand, question, choose and act.
We should pursue both. But we can begin restoring someone’s agency today.
Making citizens “superintelligent”
Much of the industry’s AI debate concerns making financial institutions more capable.
More efficient administration. Faster analysis. Automated customer interactions.
At the Academy of Life Planning, we ask another question:
What happens when AI makes the citizen more capable?
By “superintelligent citizens”, I mean people whose practical capabilities are multiplied by AI.
People who can examine documents they once found impenetrable. Organise correspondence that previously overwhelmed them. Compare explanations, expose contradictions and prepare focused questions.
They remain human. They can still be uncertain, distressed or mistaken. AI can make mistakes too.
The capability we want includes questioning the technology:
“Show me the original source.”
“Separate the evidence from your assumptions.”
“What would weaken this argument?”
“What needs checking by a qualified specialist?”
A confident answer is never enough, whether it comes from a bank, an adviser or an AI.
Superintelligent citizenship begins with better questions, supported by evidence.
Equip people before exploitation happens
Consumer protection should begin before someone becomes a victim.
AI can help a person slow down an unfamiliar proposition and examine it:
- What am I being asked to do?
- Who benefits if I agree?
- What can I independently verify?
- What happens if I need my money back?
- Why am I being pressured to decide now?
A polished presentation can make a proposition feel credible. A familiar logo can create reassurance. Technical language can discourage questions.
Helping someone examine those signals can interrupt the journey from uncertainty to misplaced trust.
The objective is to give people practical ways to pause, check and choose—while recognising that responsibility for exploitation belongs with those who perpetrate it.
Restore agency after harm
After financial exploitation, the damage extends beyond money.
People can lose confidence in their judgment. They may feel ashamed, overwhelmed or frightened of making another mistake.
Then comes the paperwork.
Statements. Emails. Complaint responses. Transaction records. Different organisations asking for the same information in different formats.
AI can help turn that disorder into a usable record.
It can support a chronology, organise evidence, identify gaps and help someone prepare for a conversation with a bank, investigator, lawyer or complaints body.
It cannot compel an institution to disclose information, enforce a judgment or promise recovery. Those limits matter.
But helping someone move from “I cannot face this” to “I understand my next step” is meaningful progress.
Recovery includes recovering the ability to act.
Why the Davids need equipping
The imbalance between a citizen and a financial institution is structural.
One side understands the terminology, procedures and internal systems. It has staff, records, budgets and professional representation.
The other may be confronting the situation for the first time, while trying to manage work, family and the consequences of financial loss.
Even a valid challenge can be difficult to sustain under those conditions.
AI offers a way to reduce parts of that imbalance: helping the citizen organise information, examine reasoning and make better use of limited specialist time.
There will still be situations where someone needs representation, advocacy or another person to carry much of the work. Restoring agency means providing support appropriate to their circumstances.
It also means ensuring that support leaves them with as much understanding and control as possible.
An army of consumer champions
This is the movement we want to build.
Consumer champions who help people understand the systems they face and use AI effectively within them.
People who can help someone preserve evidence, test an explanation, prepare a challenge and recognise when specialist expertise is needed.
Their success should be visible in the citizen’s growing capability.
Does the person understand more?
Can they identify their options?
Do they retain their records?
Are they better equipped for the next decision?
At the Academy, this is the principle of continuous agency, episodic expertise: people retain ownership and direction, drawing on human expertise when it is useful.
Join us in restoring human agency
Through the Academy of Life Planning, our planning tools, human support and Get SAFE pro bono work, we are helping people become more capable participants in their own financial lives.
We want to work with consumer advocates, planners, educators, technologists and people with lived experience of financial exploitation.
Together, we can help citizens use AI to prevent harm, challenge poor treatment and pursue recovery.
We can also turn individual experiences into clearer evidence for institutional reform. Better equipped citizens can reveal patterns that isolated complaints struggle to expose.
Fair treatment must remain a right, including for people who cannot challenge an institution themselves. Citizen capability strengthens that demand.
Join us in restoring human agency and making citizens superintelligent in their dealings with financial services.
Keep demanding that the Goliaths behave.
But stop leaving the Davids unequipped.
Find out more about the forthcoming APPG consumer protection summit.
Ready to take on a Goliath?
Start with the evidence. Use Goliathon to organise your case, examine the responses you receive and prepare your next steps.
Whether you’re challenging financial exploitation yourself or helping someone else, put AI to work on the citizen’s side.
Equip the Davids. Restore human agency.
