Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an incredible tool that can help us, but it also has a lot of challenges. AI has invaded the investment world in so many ways, but recently many companies have started to advertise Claude-based investing. One company, Range seems to be doing it well, as it focuses on lowering the fees to investors who are self-managing. It charges an annual fee of $3950 t0 $12,500. Many others have ads that appeal to folks who want to get rich quickly and conveniently.
The first one of these to capture my attention was Alinea, which is based in NYC and which launched in 2021. It is run by two Co-CEOS, Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani, in NYC. The Co-CEOs graduated from Barnard College in 2019, and Lakhaini had entry-level Wall Street experience for all of a year. Their ads make it seem so easy! All anyone has to do is download the app, fund it with $1000 and watch it grow! The firm’s LinkedIn profile points to a job available: Chief Compliance Officer. The fee for Alinea is $120 per year. The company is advertising heavily on Reels, but here is an ad on TikTok from 2023:
Another that seems to push a bit too hard is Liquid, which offers Co-Invest.The product uses ChatGPT and Claude. The website says nothing about the people running the company. One can go to LinkedIn and find its profile that points to it being in NYC. The company was founded in 2025 and just raised $18 million. Kevin Chan, CEO, discusses it on a video on X for @coinvestai.
One that really stands out negatively is Autopilot Advisers. Its handle on X, @joinautopilot, has 231K followers. The website gives no information on the people behind the company. An ad on TikTok discloses information about Dr. Alejandro Lopez-Lira, who has a LinkedIn profile. He is an assistant professor at the University of Florida who graduated college in 20154 and earned his PhD in 2020 and then began teaching in Norway before moving to the U.S. five years ago.
The website says: “On Autopilot, Pilots launch their own portfolios, share their strategies, and give everyday investors the chance to ride alongside them. We’re looking for leaders who believe great investing shouldn’t be locked behind institutional walls: people with real experience, real results, and a genuine desire to bring others along for the journey. Whether you manage millions or have spent years building a following around your investment philosophy, there’s a seat in the cockpit for you.” The website doesn’t tell you who the people at the company are or what they have accomplished or how. AutoPilot’s LinkedIn page doesn’t say much either. Co-founders Aaron Langley and Chris Josephs are in California and are less than a decade out of college with no investing experience. CEO Brian Schardt, also a co-founder, is based out of NYC and has no investment background. He was a classmate of co-founder Langley in college. This post by the CEO reveals a big game the company is playing as it tries to get “pilots”:
Everyone around me was obsessed with the stock market. And I kept thinking there’s someone in America right now trading on Robinhood who is beating most hedge funds. They know how to pick stocks. They know how to minimize risk. But nobody knows who they are.
People always say if someone really had alpha, why would they ever share it. They’d just make money themselves.
I think that’s the dumbest point I’ve ever heard.
Say you’re a kid with $200K. The market goes up 15% so you make $30K. Maybe you beat the market by 10%. That’s another $20K. So you’re making $50K a year from trading. That’s not enough to quit your job.
You have real alpha. You just don’t have enough assets to make it worth it.
That’s why I built Autopilot. You publish your portfolio. People follow you automatically. One of our creators now has $180 million following his trades. In one year.
Brian Schard, CEO of Autopilot
Investors need to be careful! None of these three firms seem to have anything magical, and there are more than these three trolling for new customers aggressively. Yes, AI can help investors, but not magically.
Correction on August 7th: In this article, I misidentified Chris Sherman as CEO, and Brian Schardt reached out to me. I have made the change. Sherman is a Director of Autopilot since 2025. I also replaced a quote from co-founder Josephs with a new one from Schard.
