Artificial Intelligence, Literacy, and Financial Inclusion: A Critical Narrative Review of Regulator, Fintech, and Media Perspectives

Abstract Book of the 19th International Conference on Modern Research in Management, Economics and Accounting

Year: 2026

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Artificial Intelligence, Literacy, and Financial Inclusion: A Critical Narrative Review of Regulator, Fintech, and Media Perspectives

Prof. Rui Murta, Carlos Fialho

ABSTRACT:

The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), financial literacy, and financial inclusion has gained prominence across academic, regulatory, and corporate agendas, often presented as a pathway to expand access to financial services and to support more informed economic decision-making. However, the literature shows that this promise is neither uniform nor free from tension, varying according to the actors who articulate it and the institutional, economic and normative interests that shape it.
This paper develops a critical narrative review structured around a comparative matrix of three groups of actors: regulators, financial institutions/fintechs and the media. The analytical corpus comprises academic publications and legal studies published between 2020 and 2026 that interpret, discuss or systematise regulatory, corporate and media discourses on the role of AI in promoting financial literacy and financial inclusion.
The analysis is organised around four dimensions: benefits attributed to AI, recognised risks and challenges, target groups emphasised, and types of evidence mobilised in the reviewed publications. The literature suggests clear asymmetries across narratives. While fintechs and parts of the financial sector tend to associate AI with democratised access to credit, personalisation and automated advice, regulators mainly emphasise governance, algorithmic transparency, data protection and risk mitigation. The media, in turn, emerge as an ambivalent discursive arena, oscillating between technological enthusiasm, financial modernity and concerns about surveillance, digital exclusion and social justice.
The paper argues that public narratives of AI actively shape expectations, legitimise business models and frame regulatory responses in personal finance.

Keywords: Algorithmic bias, Digital Divide, Nudge theory, Technosolutionism