<p>This research investigates the factors influencing AI robo-advisor adoption in Henan, China’s largest inland province, by modifying the UTAUT framework to include trust as a mediator and perceived risk as additional independent variable.While prior FinTech adoption research has focused primarily on coastal regions, this study shifts the empirical lens to central China to explore how infrastructural readiness, social endorsement, and psychological assurance interact to shape digital investment behaviour.A structured questionnaire survey was administered to 300 individual investors across 16 prefecture-level cities in Henan Province. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to estimate both direct and indirect effects among six latent constructs and to gauge explained variance in the endogenous variables. The extended model explains 53.3% of the variance in Trust and 77.9% in Usage Behaviour, and shows that trust is the strongest driver of actual use, partially transmitting the influence of facilitating conditions and social influence, whereas effort expectancy and perceived risk are non-significant.The study contributes theoretically by repositioning trust as a mediating mechanism and empirically by offering the first province-level analysis of robo-advisory usage in central China. These insights have practical relevance for regulators and financial service providers aiming to expand inclusive FinTech adoption in less digitally mature regions.</p>