Open(AI) your Bank Account
OpenAI has announced a new feature allowing ChatGPT users to connect their bank accounts and investment platforms via Plaid, giving the chatbot access to spending history, balances, transactions, and liabilities to help with financial planning and decision-making. The feature is initially available only to US-based Pro subscribers ($200/month) and follows the earlier launch of ChatGPT Health, continuing OpenAI's push into sensitive personal data. While OpenAI promises user control over their data and states ChatGPT cannot make account changes, critics note the company does not clearly explain how it will use financial data beyond AI training or what protections exist against potential breaches.
OpenAI is pushing further into sensitive personal territory. Hot on the heels of its health-focused AI feature, the company has announced that ChatGPT will soon be able to connect directly to your bank accounts, investment platforms, and other financial services through Plaid, the financial data infrastructure company that already underpins over 12,000 institutions, including Chase, Fidelity, Capital One, and Schwab.
The pitch is straightforward enough: more than 200 million people already ask ChatGPT financial questions every month, so why not give it real data to work with? Once connected, users get a spending dashboard showing transaction history, active subscriptions, and broader account balances. You can ask it to weigh in on big financial decisions, spot shifts in your spending patterns, or help you figure out whether to apply for a new credit card.
For now, the feature is limited to US-based Pro subscribers paying $200 a month. OpenAI says it plans to gather feedback before expanding it to Plus subscribers, with a longer-term goal of making it broadly available.
The company is making the expected assurances around privacy and control. Users can disconnect their accounts at any time, review or delete saved financial details like goals and obligations, and choose whether their data feeds back into model training. OpenAI also says the chatbot cannot move money or see full account numbers.
What it can see, though, is considerable: balances, transaction history, stock holdings, mortgages, credit card debt. That's a remarkably complete financial picture of a person's life sitting inside a commercial AI platform.
The comparison to ChatGPT Health is apt. Both features ask users to extend a significant degree of trust to OpenAI, a company still working out how to become profitable. The announcement doesn't spell out what protections exist against a data breach, or how OpenAI itself might use aggregated financial data beyond AI training. Those are not small gaps. Whether users decide that the budgeting help is worth the tradeoff is, ultimately, a personal call, but it's one worth making with eyes open.