Investor Adam Dell launches bank alternative Clarity

Clarity Money, an artificial intelligence-driven payment concierge, launched on Wednesday, a move its founders hope will provide consumers with an advanced financial health tool.

The personal finance app, founded by Adam Dell, a venture capitalist and the brother of Michael Dell, uses what it calls "data science" and artificial intelligence to analyze a consumer's spending record and find less costly options, or recommend the elimination of certain products.

Clarity's team also includes former staffers at Betterment, Google and IBM, and an advisory board that includes Niall Ferguson, an economic historian, and Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist.

The company uses internal software to produce informed recommendations, such as cancelling unused subscriptions, finding the best credit card options based on an individual's shopping and spending tendencies, negotiating better terms for recurring bills and creating a savings account.

Clarity's use of artificial intelligence is part of an emerging trend in financial services to use machine learning and other dynamic computing to tailor services. And similar to Walmart's recently announced savings sweepstakes, Clarity is targeting a market segment that has relatively low savings—Clarity says it hopes to serve the nearly 50% of American that don't have enough savings for a $400 emergency expense.

"Consumers have rightfully grown to distrust financial institutions and need a champion for their money," Dell said in a release.