The self-described 'agentic brokerage': GPT-4-based research (Alpha, 2023), AI-built indexes (Generated Assets, 2025) and user-defined trading agents (2026), all framed as self-directed so the broker never gives advice.
How is Public.com using AI?
Public's AI strategy is to be an 'agentic brokerage': Alpha, a research assistant built on OpenAI's GPT-4 and launched in May 2023, was used by 90% of monthly active members by December 2024. Generated Assets (May 2025) turns a prompt into an index backtested against the S&P 500, Agents (March 2026) execute user-approved strategies as fixed code, and AI Agents for Prediction Markets (September 2026) trade Kalshi event contracts. Public has raised over $400 million.
Category
Brokerage
Founded
2019
Headquarters
New York, United States
Licence and supervision
Not a bank. Open to the Public Investing, Inc. is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member (fined $350,000 by FINRA in May 2025 over influencer marketing); Public Holdings also offers crypto, bonds, options and, through Kalshi, prediction-market event contracts. Its AI tools are labelled research and automation aids, not investment advice.
Scale
'billions in assets' across 'millions of users' and more than $400 million raised since its 2019 launch (Fortune and company statements, September 2026)
Flagship platform
Agents on Public (Agentic Brokerage)
AI leadership
Jannick Malling · Leif Abraham
- Alpha launched May 17, 2023 as a research assistant powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 that answers market questions on any asset page, screens markets and summarises earnings calls; Public's help centre stresses it 'does not provide financial advice', is 'experimental technology' and that its output 'should not be construed as investment research or recommendations'.
- By December 12, 2024, 90% of Public's monthly active members had used Alpha, prompting a standalone Alpha watchlist app for investors on any brokerage.
- Generated Assets, launched May 14, 2025, turns a single prompt ('CEOs that are under 40', 'stocks unaffected by U.S. tariffs') into an equity index backtested against the S&P 500, with investing in the index 'coming soon' at launch; co-CEO Jannick Malling called it 'a third path' between self-directed and managed investing.
- Agents, rolling out from March 31, 2026, let investors automate strategies, cash management and risk rules in natural language; the AI maps the workflow with follow-up questions, the investor approves a visual plan, and the agent then runs as fixed code that cannot trade outside the chosen conditions. Public calls itself 'the world's first Agentic Brokerage'.
- On September 24, 2026 Public launched AI Agents for Prediction Markets in partnership with Kalshi, which provides the event contracts and handles the trades; agents can take positions on Fed decisions, regulatory outcomes or corporate events, or use event probabilities as triggers for stock and bond trades.
- FINRA fined Open to the Public Investing $350,000 on May 27, 2025 for failing to supervise more than 100 paid social-media influencers whose posts from 2020 to 2022 were 'not fair and balanced'; Public also bought Alto's crypto IRA business for $65 million in November 2025 (about $600 million of assets).
- Public disclaims advice at every layer: Alpha is 'an AI research tool', Generated Assets output is 'not investment advice', and Agents are 'self-directed, recurring transactions' based on the user's own instructions, which is how Public says it stays clear of rules on unlicensed advice while automating execution.
What is Agents on Public (Agentic Brokerage)?
Rolled out from March 31, 2026, Agents let an investor describe a strategy in natural language ('if SPY drops more than 1% in the first 30 minutes, buy same-day calls and puts'); the AI asks follow-up questions, renders the logic as a visual plan the user must approve, then runs it as fixed code that monitors markets and executes trades, cash sweeps or risk rules within the chosen conditions. On September 24, 2026 Public added AI Agents for Prediction Markets with Kalshi supplying the event contracts, so agents can trade events or use their probabilities as signals elsewhere in the portfolio. It builds on Alpha, the GPT-4 research assistant launched in May 2023, which 90% of monthly active members used by late 2024.[7][8][9][3]
What has Public done on AI, and when?
- Sep 24, 2026
- Mar 31, 2026
Agents roll out: the 'Agentic Brokerage'[7]
Investors describe strategies in natural language; the AI builds a workflow, the user activates it, and the agent monitors markets and executes trades, sweeps and risk rules exactly as defined.
- Nov 13, 2025
Public buys Alto's crypto IRA business for $65 million[6]
The cash-and-stock deal adds about $600 million of crypto retirement assets; Abraham said Public targets 'upmarket' investors with a median age of 38.
- May 28, 2025
FINRA fines Public Investing $350,000[5]
FINRA found the broker-dealer failed to supervise paid influencers who promoted it on Instagram and YouTube from January 2020 to at least September 2022 with misleading or unbalanced statements.
- May 14, 2025
Generated Assets: a prompt becomes an index[4]
AI screens filings and public data to build a personalised equity index from a text prompt, backtested against the S&P 500, with investing 'coming soon' and a public leaderboard of indexes.
- Dec 12, 2024
Alpha becomes a standalone app after 90% adoption[3]
With 90% of monthly active members using Alpha for research, Public released it as a free AI watchlist app for investors at any brokerage.
- May 17, 2023
Alpha launches on OpenAI's GPT-4[1]
A chat assistant on every stock page that evaluates performance, screens markets, retrieves news and summarises earnings calls; Public's market data also became a ChatGPT plugin.
Where does Public use AI today?
| System | What it does | Status | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha research assistant[1][3][2] | GPT-4-based chat on asset pages for market data, screening and earnings summaries; used by 90% of monthly active members by late 2024. | In production | Customer-facing chatbots |
| Agents (automated strategies)[7][9] | Natural-language strategies compiled into fixed, user-approved rules that monitor markets and execute trades, cash sweeps and risk management. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| AI Agents for Prediction Markets[8] | Event-contract trading and event-probability triggers via Kalshi, launched September 2026. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Generated Assets[4] | Prompt-to-index construction with S&P 500 backtesting and a shareable leaderboard; investing in the index was announced as coming soon at launch. | In production | Trading & capital markets |
| Self-directed framing and disclaimers[2][7] | Every AI product is labelled informational and non-advisory, and agents cannot act outside approved conditions, which Public presents as its answer to rules on unlicensed advice. | In production | AI governance (general) |
| OpenAI and Kalshi dependencies[2][9] | Alpha runs on OpenAI's GPT-4; prediction-market agents rely on Kalshi for contracts and execution. | In production | Third-party & vendor AI |
Use-case links open the tracker's rules-by-use-case matrix: which documents govern each system type.
What has Public disclosed in numbers?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha adoption | 90% of monthly active members used it for research[3] | Dec 12, 2024 |
| FINRA fine | $350,000 for failing to supervise over 100 paid influencers[5] | May 27, 2025 |
| Alto crypto IRA acquisition | $65 million in cash and stock; about $600 million of assets[6] | Nov 13, 2025 |
| Funding raised since 2019 | over $400 million (Accel, Tiger Global)[7] | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Median customer age | 38, about six years older than Robinhood's[6] | Nov 13, 2025 |
“Historically, the world of investing has been very binary split between self-directed and fully managed offerings. Do it yourself, or get someone else to do it. But with AI, there's a third path.”[4]
Jannick Malling · Co-Founder and Co-CEO · May 14, 2025
“Agents not only automate strategies for retail investors; they help translate their intent into action.”[7]
Jannick Malling · Co-Founder and Co-CEO · Mar 31, 2026
“AI agents can do work for you, and in investing, that means they can monitor markets when you’re not looking at a screen. They can execute strategies that you might have not been physically even able to execute yourself.”[9]
Leif Abraham · Co-Founder and Co-CEO · Sep 24, 2026
“Alpha has the ability to sift through thousands of analyst reports, market data, and earnings call transcripts, allowing investors to have access to in-depth insights on publicly traded companies in record time.”[1]
Jannick Malling · Co-Founder and Co-CEO · May 17, 2023
Who runs AI at Public?
Which regulators govern Public's AI?
| Authority | Why it matters here | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| FINRA | Open to the Public Investing is a FINRA member broker-dealer, fined $350,000 in May 2025 for influencer-marketing supervision failures; FINRA's generative-AI notice sets supervision expectations for Alpha and for Agents that execute customer strategies. | FINRA Regulatory Notice 24-09 |
| SEC | As an SEC-registered broker-dealer whose AI builds indexes and executes agent strategies, Public sits in the territory of the SEC's 2023 predictive-data-analytics proposal on conflicts in broker AI (withdrawn in 2025) and its FY2026 examination focus on AI; Public says all decisions remain self-directed to avoid giving unlicensed advice. | SEC Predictive Data Analytics proposal (34-97990) SEC withdrawal of proposed rules (33-11377) Division of Examinations FY2026 Priorities |
| CFTC | Prediction-market event contracts traded by Public's AI agents are provided and executed by Kalshi, a CFTC-regulated exchange; the CFTC's advisory on AI use by registrants and its customer advisory on AI trading claims frame that product. | CFTC Staff Advisory 24-17 on AI CFTC AI Scams Customer Advisory |
Linked authorities have a page in the AI Regulation Tracker; the others are named for completeness and not yet tracked.
What does the public record suggest about Public's AI strategy?
Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice.
01
Public automates execution while refusing to call it advice
Alpha, Generated Assets and Agents each carry a non-advice disclaimer and require user approval; the design keeps the broker-dealer on the self-directed side of the line even as the AI constructs indexes and trades on conditions.
02
The disclosed AI metric is adoption, not outcomes
90% of monthly active members using Alpha is the one usage figure Public has published; it has not disclosed returns, error rates or how often agents trade, and the business case for the AI is activity, which is the conflict the SEC's withdrawn PDA proposal targeted.
03
Agents are fixed code, not autonomous models
Public's own description is that the AI compiles a strategy into deterministic rules the user approves, and the agent 'cannot make trades outside the customer's chosen conditions'; the model is in the planning step, not the execution loop.
04
The supervision record is about marketing, not models
Public's only disclosed enforcement action, the $350,000 FINRA fine, concerned influencer posts from 2020 to 2022; no regulator has yet addressed its AI products in public.
05
Prediction markets widen the regulatory surface
Routing event contracts through Kalshi puts CFTC-regulated products inside a FINRA/SEC broker-dealer app, with AI agents able to use event odds as triggers for securities trades.
What is Public's Alpha AI?
Alpha is Public's research assistant, launched May 17, 2023 and built on OpenAI's GPT-4 (not ChatGPT itself). It answers questions about stocks, bonds, ETFs and crypto from any asset page, screens markets, retrieves news and summarises earnings calls. Public says 90% of monthly active members had used it by December 2024, when it also became a standalone watchlist app, but stresses it 'does not provide financial advice' and is experimental technology that may give inaccurate responses.
What does 'agentic brokerage' mean at Public?
Since March 31, 2026 investors on Public can create Agents by describing a strategy in natural language, for example generating $5,000 a month in covered-call premiums or buying options if SPY drops 1% in the first 30 minutes. The AI asks follow-up questions, shows a visual plan, and once approved the agent runs as fixed code that monitors markets and executes trades, cash sweeps or risk rules only within the chosen conditions. On September 24, 2026 agents gained access to Kalshi prediction markets.
Is Public a bank?
No. Public Holdings operates Open to the Public Investing, Inc., an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member, alongside crypto, bond, options and treasury products and, through Kalshi, prediction-market event contracts. It has raised more than $400 million from investors including Accel and Tiger Global since launching in 2019 and is headquartered in New York.
Who regulates Public's AI trading tools?
FINRA and the SEC supervise Public's broker-dealer, so Alpha, Generated Assets and Agents fall under FINRA's generative-AI supervision notice and the SEC's examination focus on AI; the SEC's 2023 proposal on conflicts in broker AI was withdrawn in 2025. Public keeps every AI output labelled as non-advice and every agent self-directed and user-approved. Event contracts come from Kalshi, a CFTC-regulated exchange.
Has Public been fined by regulators?
Yes. On May 27, 2025 FINRA fined Open to the Public Investing $350,000 for failing to supervise more than 100 paid social-media influencers who promoted it on Instagram and YouTube from January 2020 to at least September 2022 with statements FINRA found misleading or not fair and balanced. The action concerned marketing, not Public's AI products.
Does Public use OpenAI?
Yes. Alpha runs on OpenAI's GPT-4, the model behind ChatGPT, and at launch in 2023 Public's market data was also offered as a ChatGPT plugin. Public has not disclosed which models power Generated Assets or Agents; it describes Agents as converting a request into fixed code that executes without further model involvement.
- Public Launches Alpha, Powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 for Investment Research
- What is Alpha? (Public help centre, retrieved October 15, 2026)
- Alpha, a New AI Watchlist App, Launches to Give Individual Investors Real-Time Insights On The Markets
- Investors Can Turn Ideas into an Investable Index with Public's Launch of Generated Assets
- FINRA penalizes another broker dealer for social media miscues
- Investing app Public acquires crypto IRA business for $65 million
- Public Becomes the First Brokerage To Introduce AI Agents for Your Portfolio
- Public Launches AI Agents for Prediction Markets
- Public brings AI trading agents to prediction markets with Kalshi tie-up
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