Which Brokers Have an AI Assistant? (2026)

Last updated June 2026

Short answer

Several major brokers now have a built-in AI assistant, but almost all of them are research, education, and account-help tools, not autonomous traders. Robinhood has Cortex, Public has Alpha, Charles Schwab has a Schwab Assistant for servicing and research, Fidelity runs a virtual assistant plus deep AI research tooling, Webull adds AI-assisted signals for active traders, Morgan Stanley (which owns E*Trade) has advanced advisor-facing AI, and Interactive Brokers exposes an API that lets builders connect their own AI agent. What these assistants mostly do today is explain what is moving a stock and answer questions; they do not build and run a portfolio on their own. If your broker has no AI, a purpose-built layer like Walnut connects the account you already use, stays read-only by default, and only trades with your approval.

“Which broker has an AI assistant?” sounds simple, but the answer hides a bigger one: what these assistants actually do. In 2026 the AI inside most brokerage apps is a Q&A and education layer (it explains a stock, summarizes news, or helps you navigate the platform) rather than an engine that decides and trades for you. This guide walks through the built-in AI at eight brokers (Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, Public, SoFi, Webull, E*Trade and Morgan Stanley, and Interactive Brokers) on the same fields, ranks them by use-case, and covers what to do if your broker has no AI at all. Walnut appears as one of the AI layers you can add on top, not as the winner of every category.

Which brokers have built-in AI assistants?

A growing number do, led by the consumer-facing apps. The clearest examples in 2026 are Robinhood (Cortex) and Public (Alpha), both of which put a conversational research assistant directly in the trading app. The large incumbents (Charles Schwab and Fidelity) offer virtual assistants focused on account servicing and research, and have invested heavily in AI behind the scenes. Webull adds AI-assisted signals for active traders. Morgan Stanley, which owns E*Trade, has shipped some of the most advanced generative AI in the industry, but aimed at its human financial advisors. Interactive Brokers does not ship a chat assistant but exposes an API that lets you connect your own.

The pattern worth noting: built-in broker AI is mostly about helping you understand and navigate, not about handing the wheel to a machine. That distinction matters more than which logo the chat box carries.

What can a broker's AI assistant actually do?

Mostly it explains and informs. Across Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, Public, and Webull, the common jobs are the same handful, and the limits are just as consistent.

Explain what is moving a stock. Plain-English summaries of why a name is up or down, what a company does, and how a metric looks. Public's Alpha and Robinhood's Cortex are built around this.
Answer account and product questions. Balances, quotes, how a feature works, and how to do a task. Schwab Assistant and Fidelity's virtual assistant lean here.
Surface and summarize research. Pulling relevant filings, news, and analysis from a deep library so you do not have to dig. Fidelity and Schwab have the depth; Morgan Stanley does this for advisors.
Generate signals and screens. Flagging setups and filtering for candidates, aimed at active traders. Webull leans into this alongside its charting.

What they typically cannot do is just as important. A broker's AI assistant generally does not autonomously build or run a portfolio for you, cannot see accounts you hold at other brokers, and cannot promise market-beating returns. Hands-off investing exists at these firms, but it lives in separate managed or robo products (Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, Fidelity Go, SoFi automated investing) rather than in the chat box. Treat the assistant as a research and servicing companion.

Broker by broker: who has what

Each broker below is described on the same four fields, so you can scan across them: the AI feature, what it actually does, what it cannot do, and who it suits. Facts are qualitative and point-in-time, because broker AI ships fast and varies by account tier and region.

Robinhood

Robinhood Cortex is the AI layer Robinhood has been rolling out to give plain-English context on markets and individual stocks: summaries of what is moving a name, digestible explanations, and analysis surfaced inside the app. It is positioned as an in-app research and insight assistant for retail investors.

The AI feature: Cortex (AI investment tools).
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: It does not autonomously trade your account or run a strategy on your behalf, and the richer Cortex features have been tied to Robinhood's paid Gold tier rather than every free account. It informs decisions rather than making them.
Best for: Robinhood users who want plain-English context and summaries on the stocks they already follow.

Charles Schwab

Schwab offers a conversational Schwab Assistant in its mobile app and on Schwab.com for account servicing and navigation (checking balances, quotes, and account tasks by voice or text), and it has built generative-AI tooling to surface research and answer client questions. The emphasis is help, education, and getting around a deep platform.

The AI feature: Schwab Assistant and Schwab Knowledge Assistant.
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: It is not an autonomous trader and not a personalized robo that builds and runs a portfolio for you (Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is a separate managed product). The assistant answers questions and helps you navigate rather than placing discretionary trades.
Best for: Schwab clients who want fast account servicing and research help inside a large, full-service platform.

Fidelity

Fidelity runs a virtual assistant for customer support and account questions, and has invested heavily in AI internally for research and client tools. Public-facing AI today centers on answering account and product questions and helping you find information across a very deep research library.

The AI feature: Fidelity virtual assistant and AI research tooling.
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: Fidelity does not market a flashy consumer-facing AI copilot that picks stocks or trades for you. Its discretionary management lives in separate managed-account products (such as Fidelity Go), not in a chat assistant. The assistant is support-and-navigation focused.
Best for: Fidelity customers who want support answers and help navigating one of the deepest research libraries in the industry.

Public

Public's Alpha is a built-in AI assistant you can ask natural-language questions about stocks, ETFs, and your holdings: why a stock moved, what a company does, how a metric looks, and context on the assets in the Public app. It is one of the more prominent consumer broker AI assistants, designed for in-context research while you browse.

The AI feature: Alpha (AI investing assistant).
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: Alpha answers and explains; it does not autonomously place trades or manage a portfolio on your behalf, and it is scoped to the Public app rather than reading accounts you hold elsewhere. It is a research companion, not an execution engine.
Best for: Public users who want a conversational research assistant built directly into the trading app.

SoFi

SoFi pairs free automated investing (a robo-advisor that builds and manages a diversified portfolio) with in-app guidance and access to human advisors in an all-in-one money app. Its AI-adjacent help focuses on coaching beginners and answering money questions across banking, lending, and investing.

The AI feature: SoFi automated investing and in-app guidance.
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: The hands-off portfolio is the automated product holding your money, not a conversational AI that analyzes a self-directed portfolio you actively trade. It is lighter on deep, ticker-level research and on talking through individual holdings.
Best for: Beginners who want automated investing plus general money guidance in one ecosystem.

Webull

Webull leans into data, charting, and analysis tools popular with active traders, and has been adding AI-assisted features such as automated signals, screeners, and market context on top of its detailed charts and indicators. The AI sits next to a trader-grade toolkit.

The AI feature: AI-assisted tools and Webull analysis features.
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: Webull's AI features are research and signal aids; they do not autonomously manage a long-term portfolio for you, and the platform's depth assumes a more active, self-directed trader. It surfaces signals rather than running a buy-and-hold strategy.
Best for: Active traders who want AI-assisted signals and screeners alongside advanced charting.

E*Trade (Morgan Stanley)

E*Trade is owned by Morgan Stanley, which has shipped some of the most advanced generative-AI tooling in the industry through its OpenAI partnership: an AI assistant that helps Morgan Stanley financial advisors retrieve research and an AI Debrief tool that summarizes client meetings. E*Trade itself offers support and account tooling for self-directed investors.

The AI feature: Morgan Stanley AI (advisor-facing) and E*Trade support tools.
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: The headline Morgan Stanley AI is built for human financial advisors, not surfaced as a consumer copilot inside the self-directed E*Trade app, and it does not autonomously trade retail accounts. Self-directed E*Trade users get research and support tools rather than that advisor-grade assistant.
Best for: Investors in the Morgan Stanley ecosystem, especially those working with a human advisor who uses the AI behind the scenes.

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers gives advanced and international investors broad market access plus research and analytics tools, and crucially exposes a robust API. That API is what lets developers and third-party tools wire IBKR up to AI agents and models, including community-built Model Context Protocol connectors.

The AI feature: IBKR research tools and API access for AI.
What it can do: see above.
What it cannot do: IBKR does not ship a polished consumer chat assistant for everyday investors; its strength is programmatic access, which assumes you (or a tool you use) can work with an API. The platform itself is powerful but complex rather than beginner-friendly.
Best for: Advanced and international investors, and builders who want API access to connect their own AI agent.

At a glance

Broker	AI feature	Best for
Robinhood	Cortex (AI investment tools)	Robinhood users who want plain-English context and summaries on the stocks they already follow.
Charles Schwab	Schwab Assistant and Schwab Knowledge Assistant	Schwab clients who want fast account servicing and research help inside a large, full-service platform.
Fidelity	Fidelity virtual assistant and AI research tooling	Fidelity customers who want support answers and help navigating one of the deepest research libraries in the industry.
Public	Alpha (AI investing assistant)	Public users who want a conversational research assistant built directly into the trading app.
SoFi	SoFi automated investing and in-app guidance	Beginners who want automated investing plus general money guidance in one ecosystem.
Webull	AI-assisted tools and Webull analysis features	Active traders who want AI-assisted signals and screeners alongside advanced charting.
E*Trade (Morgan Stanley)	Morgan Stanley AI (advisor-facing) and E*Trade support tools	Investors in the Morgan Stanley ecosystem, especially those working with a human advisor who uses the AI behind the scenes.
Interactive Brokers	IBKR research tools and API access for AI	Advanced and international investors, and builders who want API access to connect their own AI agent.

Ranked by what you want the AI to do

There is no overall number one, because broker AI does different jobs. Below the field is ranked inside each use-case, with the stronger fit first. Note that broker AI is mostly research and servicing, so the rankings are about which assistant fits which need, not about which one trades best for you.

Best built-in AI for plain-English stock research

If you want to ask why a stock moved or what a company does without leaving your trading app, the consumer research assistants lead.

1. Public. Alpha is a prominent in-app AI assistant built for natural-language questions about stocks, ETFs, and your holdings.
2. Robinhood. Cortex surfaces plain-English context and summaries on the names you follow, though richer features lean on the paid Gold tier.

Best AI help inside a deep, full-service platform

If you want a serving assistant and research help on top of a large, established brokerage, the incumbents fit.

1. Charles Schwab. Schwab Assistant handles account servicing and navigation by voice or text across a deep platform.
2. Fidelity. A virtual assistant plus one of the deepest research libraries in the industry for finding information.

Best for active traders who want AI-assisted signals

If you trade actively and want signals and screeners next to advanced charts, the trader-grade tools fit.

1. Webull. AI-assisted signals and screeners sit alongside detailed charting and indicators built for active traders.

Best for builders who want API access for an AI agent

If you want to wire a broker up to your own AI agent or a third-party tool, API access matters more than a chat box.

1. Interactive Brokers. A robust API lets developers and community connectors hook IBKR up to AI models and agents.

Best for hands-off investors who want automation, not a chat

If you would rather a portfolio be built and managed for you than ask questions, the automated products fit, even though they are not a research chat.

1. SoFi. Free automated investing plus general money guidance in one app, aimed at beginners.

Can I add an AI assistant to my broker?

Yes, and for many people this is the more useful route, because the built-in assistants are tied to one app and mostly stop at explaining. A purpose-built AI layer connects to the broker you already use and lets the AI reason about your real holdings, regardless of whether that broker ships any AI of its own.

Purpose-built AI layers. Tools like Walnut connect an existing US broker (often through a regulated aggregator such as SnapTrade) and let you analyze what you hold by chatting through Claude, ChatGPT, or a built-in assistant. The connection is read-only by default and any trade needs your approval. PortfolioPilot and Mezzi take a similar connected-account approach focused on critique and tax-aware insight.
The developer route. Brokers with an API, most notably Interactive Brokers and Alpaca, can be wired to an AI agent directly, including through community-built Model Context Protocol connectors. This assumes you can work with an API or use a tool that does.
General assistants alone. ChatGPT and Claude on their own cannot see your holdings, so they answer with generic examples. They become useful for your actual portfolio only once connected through a tool like the ones above.

The practical upshot: if your broker has no AI, you do not have to switch brokers to get one. You add a layer on top of the account you already have.

How we evaluated these

We limited the list to brokers people actually use in the US and described each broker's AI on the same fields rather than ranking them on a single score. Within that, we weighed four things:

What the AI does: whether it is a research-and-education assistant, an account-servicing helper, a signal generator, or API access for building your own agent.
What it cannot do: we were explicit that almost none of these autonomously trade or manage a portfolio, because conflating Q&A with discretionary management is the most common misunderstanding.
Who it suits: matching each assistant to a real use-case (research, servicing, active trading, building) rather than declaring a universal best.
Honesty of the framing: we marked down any implication that a chat assistant guarantees better returns, because none can promise that.

We did not crown a single overall winner. The right broker AI depends on what you want it to do, and broker AI ships fast. Features, tiers, and availability change, so treat the specifics here as a starting point and verify on each provider's site.

Where Walnut fits

To be upfront, since this is our site: Walnut is not a broker and not a built-in broker assistant. It is an AI layer you add on top of the broker you already use. It connects an existing US brokerage through SnapTrade and lets you analyze what you hold by talking through Claude, ChatGPT, or a built-in assistant, with each holding framed against the S&P 500. That makes it most relevant when your broker has no AI of its own, or when its built-in assistant is scoped to one app and you want one that reasons across your real positions. Walnut is read-only by default, every trade needs your approval, and you keep the broker you already use. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Which should you use?

The quickest way to narrow it down is to match the AI to what you want it to do.

You want plain-English research inside your trading app. Public's Alpha and Robinhood's Cortex are built for asking why a stock moved and what a company does.
You want account help and research depth in a full-service platform. Schwab Assistant and Fidelity's virtual assistant serve a large, established brokerage.
You trade actively and want signals. Webull pairs AI-assisted signals and screeners with advanced charting.
You want to build your own AI agent on a broker. Interactive Brokers and Alpaca expose APIs you can wire to AI, including via community MCP connectors.
You want a portfolio run for you rather than a chat. SoFi automated investing, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, and Fidelity Go are managed products, not assistants.
Your broker has no AI, or its AI stops at explaining. A layer like Walnut connects the account you already use and lets you analyze it by chatting through Claude or ChatGPT, with any trade you approve.

The bottom line on broker AI assistants

Most major brokers now have some AI, but in 2026 it is overwhelmingly a research, education, and account-servicing layer, not an autonomous trader. Robinhood Cortex and Public Alpha lead on in-app conversational research; Schwab and Fidelity focus on servicing and deep research; Webull on signals for active traders; Morgan Stanley on advisor-facing tools behind E*Trade; and Interactive Brokers on API access for builders. What none of them do is run your portfolio on their own or guarantee returns. If your broker ships no AI, or its assistant is locked to one app, you can add a layer like Walnut on top of the broker you already use, read-only by default and trading only with your approval.

From a connected account you can dig into a specific stock, an ETF you hold, or a theme you want exposure to. For the broader landscape, see the best brokers for AI trading roundup, or how to connect your brokerage to an AI assistant.

Try Walnut on top of your broker

If your broker has no AI assistant, Walnut adds one. Connect any major US broker in a few clicks, then analyze what you hold against the S&P 500 and ask questions through Claude, ChatGPT, or its built-in AI. Read-only by default; you approve every trade.

Create a free Walnut account

FAQ

Which brokers have a built-in AI assistant in 2026?

Several major brokers now ship some form of AI. Robinhood has Cortex, Public has Alpha, Charles Schwab has a Schwab Assistant for servicing and research, Fidelity runs a virtual assistant and deep AI research tooling, Webull adds AI-assisted signals, and Morgan Stanley (which owns E*Trade) has advanced advisor-facing AI. Most of these are research, education, and account-help assistants rather than autonomous traders.

Does Charles Schwab have an AI assistant?

Yes. Schwab offers a conversational Schwab Assistant in its app and on Schwab.com for account tasks, balances, quotes, and navigation, and has built generative-AI tooling to surface research and answer client questions. It is focused on servicing and education, not on placing discretionary trades for you. Schwab's managed investing lives in a separate product, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios.

Does Fidelity have an AI copilot?

Fidelity runs a virtual assistant for support and account questions and has invested heavily in AI for research and internal tools. It does not market a consumer-facing copilot that picks stocks or trades for you; discretionary management lives in separate managed-account products like Fidelity Go. The public-facing AI is support-and-navigation focused across a very deep research library.

What is Robinhood Cortex?

Robinhood Cortex is Robinhood's AI layer that gives plain-English context on markets and individual stocks: summaries of what is moving a name and digestible explanations surfaced inside the app. It is a research and insight assistant for retail investors, and the richer features have been tied to the paid Gold tier. It informs your decisions rather than trading autonomously.

What is Public's Alpha AI?

Alpha is Public's built-in AI assistant. You can ask it natural-language questions about stocks, ETFs, and your holdings, such as why a stock moved or what a company does, and get context while you browse the Public app. It is one of the more prominent consumer broker AI assistants. Alpha answers and explains; it does not autonomously place trades for you.

Can a broker's AI assistant trade for me automatically?

Generally no. The built-in assistants at Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, Public, and Webull are designed for Q&A, research, and account help, not autonomous trading. Hands-off investing exists, but it lives in separate managed or robo products (such as Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, Fidelity Go, or SoFi automated investing) that build and run a portfolio, not in a chat assistant that decides and trades on its own.

Does E*Trade have an AI assistant?

E*Trade is owned by Morgan Stanley, which has shipped advanced generative AI through an OpenAI partnership, but that assistant is built for Morgan Stanley financial advisors (research retrieval and meeting summaries), not surfaced as a consumer copilot in the self-directed E*Trade app. Self-directed E*Trade users get research and support tools rather than that advisor-grade assistant.

Does Webull have AI features?

Yes. Webull leans into data, charting, and analysis for active traders and has been adding AI-assisted features such as automated signals, screeners, and market context on top of its detailed charts. These are research and signal aids; they surface ideas rather than autonomously managing a long-term portfolio for you.

Does Interactive Brokers have an AI assistant?

Interactive Brokers does not ship a polished consumer chat assistant, but it exposes a robust API. That API is what lets developers and third-party tools, including community-built Model Context Protocol connectors, wire IBKR up to AI agents and models. Its strength is programmatic access for builders rather than a beginner-friendly chat box.

What can a broker's AI assistant actually do today?

Mostly explain and inform. Today's broker AI summarizes what is moving a stock, answers account and product questions, helps you navigate the app, and surfaces research. It typically cannot autonomously build or run a portfolio, see accounts you hold at other brokers, or guarantee market-beating results. Treat it as a research and servicing companion, not a decision-maker.

What if my broker has no AI assistant?

You can add one. Purpose-built AI layers connect to the broker you already use (often through a regulated aggregator like SnapTrade) and let you analyze your real holdings by chatting through an assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT. Walnut works this way: it connects an existing US broker, is read-only by default, and only places trades you approve. That brings AI to a broker that ships none of its own.

Can I connect ChatGPT or Claude to my brokerage?

On their own, ChatGPT and Claude cannot see your holdings, so they answer with generic examples. Connecting your brokerage through a tool like Walnut gives the assistant read access to your real positions, so the conversation is about what you actually own. Access is read-only by default and any trade still needs your approval. Some brokers (such as Interactive Brokers via its API) can also be wired to AI agents directly.

Walnut is informational and is not an investment adviser. Broker AI features, account tiers, pricing, and availability change frequently; verify current details on each provider's site before deciding. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or to use any particular product.