Robo-advisors have been hailed as financial innovations that combine Artificial Intelligence (AI) and low-cost advisory services, with the potential to democratize stock market participation and improve financial inclusion, especially in less developed countries. However, to date their adoption has been slower than expected and existing research that has attempted to understand this puzzle focuses exclusively on existing users of robo-advisors. In this paper, we study the intention to adopt robo-advisors as an antecedent of actual adoption. Using data from a survey of 1,277 Chinese adults, a country with one of the highest saving rates in the world but also very low stock market participation rate, we find that financial literacy and technology acceptance strongly influence the intention to adopt robo-advisors. A one-unit increase in financial literacy (technology acceptance) is associated with a 5.69% (4.74%) increase in the probability of adopting robo-advisors. Importantly, financial confidence partially mediates the literacy-adoption link, highlighting a key psychological mechanism in improving stock market participation rates. Our results shed light on the underlying drivers that facilitate financial inclusion.