Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) CEO Vladimir Tenev believes artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape how Americans think about investing, predicting that putting money to work in the markets will become a “much bigger and more necessary part of individual lives’” within the next decade.
Speaking on the “Iced Coffee Hour” podcast released on Aug. 24, Tenev outlined a future where AI’s disruption of traditional employment makes investing less of an option and more of a survival strategy for financial security.
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Tenev sees AI creating a paradox in wealth creation. While the technology currently concentrates wealth among a handful of “Mag 7” tech giants, he believes long-term impacts could enable more “single-person companies” as AI automates specialized business functions.
“AI will change jobs rather than eliminate them, creating new and more interesting human jobs,” he told the podcast hosts, Graham Stephan and Jack Selby, advising people to become “AI native” quickly to avoid being left behind.
However, this transformation comes with a warning about timing. Tenev emphasized that those who fail to adapt to AI-powered tools risk finding themselves at a significant disadvantage in the evolving economy.
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Tenev addressed persistent perceptions that retail investors underperform the market, with Tenev pushing back against what he called “antiquated assumptions” based on high-commission trading environments.
He cited the Robinhood Investors Index, which tracks customer performance relative to broader markets, suggesting that the conventional wisdom about retail investor underperformance may be outdated. Robinhood customers tend to overweight technology and innovation stocks, plus cryptocurrency, leading to performance that fluctuates relative to traditional indices.
“Many younger Robinhood users see their discretionary investing as competing with a consumption bucket,” he said, meaning they’re investing money that might otherwise go toward entertainment or luxury purchases.
