Rich Habits Podcast: Inside Public’s AI Revolution with Co-CEO Jannick Malling

Episode Date: March 28, 2026
Guests: Jannick Malling (Co-CEO, Public), Hosted by Austin Hankwitz and Robert Croak
Episode Theme: First Look at Public’s Agentic AI Brokerage

Episode Overview

This episode offers an exclusive sneak peek at Public’s new AI Agent feature—an innovation set to launch on March 31, 2026. Austin and Robert interview Public’s Co-CEO, Jannick Malling, about how these AI agents will transform investing for retail investors by automating portfolio management with simple, natural-language prompts. The conversation explores the implications for financial advisors, investor education, security, and the future of personalized investing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Agentic AI in Investing

• What is an AI Agent?
  • A tool inside the Public app that lets users describe, in plain English, what they want to automate (e.g., "Buy Nvidia if it’s down 3% this week; move extra cash to treasuries every Friday").
• How it Works:
  • Users enter instructions through a text field in the Agents tab.
  • The AI agent clarifies details via follow-up questions (e.g., which account, amounts, trade parameters).
  • The agent creates a transparent workflow and, upon user approval, executes and manages instructions securely.
  • Users can review, pause, or modify agent behavior at any time.
• Dynamic vs. Rigid Automation:
  • Unlike traditional scheduled investing (i.e., recurring buys), AI agents allow for nuanced, conditional rules—responding to market changes, earnings events, sentiment, etc.
• Accessibility:
  • No coding or technical background is needed. Anyone can leverage sophisticated, rule-based strategies simply by describing their goals.

"You just go to the agents tab, you instruct the agent with whatever it is you want it to do, and they'll carry it out in your public account securely and transparently."
— Jannick Malling (06:00)

2. The Industry Shift: Leveling the Playing Field

• Historic Parallels:
  • The evolution: phone-based brokerages → online brokers → mobile trading → AI-driven agentic brokerages.
• Democratization of Tools:
  • Sophisticated financial tools previously reserved for hedge funds and wealthy clients are now available (free) to everyday investors.
• Institutional Impact:
  • Even institutional quants are interested in accessing these tools (“…the amount of people just after the generated assets launch that reached out to us from the institutional side asking if they could license that software has been staggering.” — Jannick Malling, 13:54).

3. Safety, Control, and Transparency

• Security Concerns:
  • Agents run inside the existing secure environment of Public’s brokerage infrastructure.
  • No need for users to handle API keys, command lines, or custom setups.
• Separation of Reasoning from Execution:
  • The system clarifies and codifies user intent before any action occurs.
  • All automations are deterministic—no unexpected “AI improvisations” (28:29).
• Full Transparency:
  • Users can review a log of every check, trade, or action taken by their agents.
  • Easy control: pause, edit, or delete any agent.

"It's like a fully translucent box, not a black box. ...You have the complete view, transparency and then obviously control."
— Jannick Malling (19:40)

"We separated reasoning from execution...whatever you're conversing with it about, you know, you're discussing what you want to do, it ultimately proposes that workflow that's spelled out in plain English."
— Jannick Malling (26:06)

4. Mindset Shift & Investor Confidence

• Overcoming Fear & Building Control:
  • Agents aid financial understanding and give users direct, ongoing control (vs. infrequent meetings with expensive advisors).
  • By interacting with the system, users develop stronger investment discipline and self-awareness.
• Educational Impact:
  • Users can share agent scripts with friends or the community (“Every agent has a unique code so you can share it with friends…” — 37:19).
  • Promotes collaborative optimization—users can import, tweak, and run strategies developed by others.

"As they learn through these prompts, it's going to make them feel more confident and that's going to make them do better, but also invest more."
— Co-host (21:00)

5. Potential Use Cases and the Future

• Notable Automation Examples:
  • Dynamic DCA: “Invest in this stock only if it's down X% weekly.”
  • Responsive protection: “Add a hedge if global risk events occur.”
  • Tax management: “Raise $50k for withdrawal by only selling long-term gains at all-time highs, don’t touch Nvidia/Bitcoin.”
  • Auto-stop-loss: Automatically append trailing stops to every new trade.
• Beyond Portfolio Management:
  • Potential future integrations with tax planning, estate planning, and broader financial automation.
• Demise (and reinvention) of Financial Advisors:
  • Advisors offering only set-it-and-forget-it or basic rebalancing will be outpaced.
  • The best advisors might coexist by adding value in complex, high-touch ways.

"Will one day AI agents substitute investment advisors entirely?"
— Co-host (29:16)
"It's not happening tomorrow, but once you've seen this thing, you cannot unsee it...Our generation was already what we call self-directed first...This just accelerates that."
— Jannick Malling (30:08)

• Sharable, Viral Agent Strategies:
  • Anyone can share agent codes, opening up community-generated strategies accessible to all users (37:19–39:01).
• Discipline as a Game-Changer:
  • Institutional-grade discipline becomes available to retail users—a key differentiator for long-term success.

"Codifying this stuff will lead to you executing your investment strategies with way greater discipline, which is what any institutional trader [has] been doing by writing code for 20 years...but now you can do it too, even if you don't know how to code."
— Jannick Malling (42:08)

6. Advice for the Hesitant Investor (Especially Ages 40+)

• Get Curious and Try It:
  • Users can start small (trigger notifications without executing trades).
  • The platform is designed for safe experimentation (“…you're jumping in there with floaters and a life vest and everything.” — 46:36).
• Superpower Analogy:
  • Don’t get left behind—industry shifts happen fast, and adopting this early positions users ahead of the curve (45:08).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “We're not charging anything for this—taking a step back, you know, in our industry, trading going online gave birth to the discount broker... in the era of AI, you'll see the era of the agentic brokerage.”
  — Jannick Malling (11:09)
• “We've reduced the role of the broker to just trade execution... now with agentic, that's changing again. Because now the brokerage role can be very full service...”
  — Jannick Malling (12:14)
• “Every agent has a unique code so that you can share it with friends... these things also have the opportunity to go pretty viral.”
  — Jannick Malling (37:19)
• “Discipline... That's one of the key words for me. As an investor, honestly, one of the hardest things... codifying this stuff will lead to you executing your investment strategies with way greater discipline.”
  — Jannick Malling (42:08)
• “It's like a superpower and you don't want to be In a market where some people have a superpower that you don't... now there's no reason not to at least start trying this out.”
  — Jannick Malling (45:08)
• “If you start using it two years from now, you're starting a little bit behind the eight ball relative to other folks that have been using this—not just in terms of your knowledge... but its knowledge of what you want to achieve.”
  — Jannick Malling (48:06)

Important Timestamps

• [06:00] — Yannick explains what AI agents are
• [08:54] — Dynamic investing vs. rigid schedules
• [11:09] — Free access, historical perspective on brokerages
• [19:40] — Transparency and user control
• [26:06] — Reasoning separated from execution
• [28:29] — Deterministic vs. probabilistic AI decision-making
• [30:08] — AI agent outlook for financial advisors
• [37:19] — Sharing agent codes and viral potential
• [42:08] — Role of discipline and automation in successful investing
• [45:08] — Encouragement to try Agentic AI (esp. for skeptical/older users)
• [52:04] — The future of Public as an agentic brokerage

Memorable Moments

• Goosebumps on Launch:
  • Co-host describes having “goosebumps” during the demo and urges listeners to try the feature as soon as it launches (02:22).
• Real-life Hedge Example:
  • Yannick describes using the agent to analyze risk and auto-hedge when geopolitical shocks occur (21:57).
• DIY Tax Optimization:
  • Automated guidance for making tax-efficient withdrawals, with custom prompts and rules (36:16+).
• Evolution of Wealth Building Habits:
  • The “superpower” analogy: don’t let other investors lap you by adopting this tool early (45:08).
• Hybrid Use Cases:
  • Enabling stop-loss automation as a seamless add-on to manual trades (43:09).
• Community Strategy Sharing:
  • Viral spread and collaborative optimization as a new norm (37:19–39:01).

Conclusion

Final Insights:
Public's agentic AI marks a paradigm shift for retail investors—empowering non-technical users with the kinds of automated, customizable, and dynamic investment strategies previously reserved for professionals. The platform’s strong focus on transparency, security, and sharable community tools paves the way for a more democratized and disciplined investing future. Listen to this episode for real, actionable insights and a preview of how the AI-powered brokerage era will change wealth building for all.

Public Agentic AI launches March 31, 2026. For Rich Habits listeners, this is truly a “be first” moment worth embracing.