OpenAI aims for ChatGPT to access your bank account, promoting convenience as the benefit. However, the potential dangers outweigh this advantage.

      TL;DR: ChatGPT can now access your bank accounts through Plaid, allowing OpenAI to tap into sensitive financial data. OpenAI has introduced a personal finance feature within ChatGPT, enabling subscribers to connect their bank accounts, credit cards, investment portfolios, and loans to the chatbot, allowing them to ask questions based on their actual financial information. Released on May 15, this feature is available in preview for US-based ChatGPT Pro subscribers on web and iOS, supporting over 12,000 financial institutions via Plaid.

      The process is simple. Users can access a new “Finances” tab in the ChatGPT sidebar or type “@Finances, connect my accounts” in any chat. ChatGPT assists them in linking accounts through Plaid, which is also used by services like Venmo and Robinhood. Once connected, the chatbot displays a dashboard showing portfolio performance, spending habits, subscriptions, and upcoming payments. Users can pose questions such as “what did my last holiday actually cost me?” or “help me devise a plan to buy a house in five years.”

      OpenAI states that while ChatGPT can access balances, transactions, investments, and liabilities, it does not have access to full account numbers and cannot make changes to accounts. Users can disconnect services anytime through settings, and synced data will be deleted within 30 days. The financial memories, which contain contextual information about users' goals and priorities, can be viewed and deleted from the Finances page.

      According to OpenAI, over 200 million users inquire about finance-related topics with ChatGPT each month. The new tool aims to transition those discussions from generic advice to answers based on users' actual financial data. This feature operates on GPT-5.5, OpenAI’s latest model, which is said to excel in the context-dependent reasoning that personal finance inquiries require. OpenAI collaborated with over 50 finance experts to establish a benchmark, where GPT-5.5 Thinking received a score of 79 out of 100 and GPT-5.5 Pro scored 82.5.

      The launch occurred precisely one month after OpenAI acquired Hiro Finance, an AI-driven personal finance startup founded by Ethan Bloch, who previously sold neobank Digit to Oportun for over $200 million. Hiro was supported by Ribbit Capital, General Catalyst, and Restive. OpenAI referred to this acquisition as an acqui-hire: Hiro ceased operations on April 20, deleted user data by May 13, and Bloch’s team of about ten people joined OpenAI. The company stated that the expertise from the Hiro team was instrumental in launching the finance feature but did not indicate if the entire product was developed by them. Hiro was OpenAI’s second fintech acquisition, following the purchase of investment app Roi approximately six months earlier.

      OpenAI is also collaborating with Intuit for deeper integrations. Future features might include understanding tax consequences of stock sales, estimating credit card approval chances, or scheduling appointments with local tax professionals, all within ChatGPT. If the Intuit partnership materializes as described, it would transition ChatGPT from a passive advisory tool to a more comprehensive financial services platform.

      The competitive landscape is immediate. On May 5, Perplexity launched its Computer for Professional Finance product targeting analysts and investors, boasting over 40 built-in financial tools drawing from SEC filings and other institutional data sources. On May 14, Perplexity extended its consumer finance capabilities by incorporating Plaid for personal brokerage, checking, savings, and credit card account integration, using the same infrastructure that OpenAI announced the following day.

      However, the main differentiation comes from positioning. Perplexity is expanding from institutional finance, employing licensed data feeds and audit trails tailored for professional research. In contrast, OpenAI is starting with consumer ease, focusing on the 200 million individuals who already ask ChatGPT about their finances, providing motivation for them to share their real financial data. While both approaches will likely converge, they currently reflect differing views on where value in AI-enabled finance resides.

      The timing is significant as OpenAI recently introduced advertising in ChatGPT, shifting from a cost-per-thousand-impressions model to a cost-per-click basis within ten weeks of launching ads. OpenAI claims it does not create audience segments from user conversations and does not display ads to users identified as under 18. Yet, the structural reality is that the same platform now accommodates ads, financial data, and 200 million monthly finance discussions. While OpenAI's privacy measures may be robust, the combination of advertising and sensitive financial data within a single product is likely to attract scrutiny from regulators, privacy advocates, and users who view their ChatGPT interactions as private.

      The fiduciary question is critical yet often overlooked. Unlike a human financial advisor, who is legally required to act in a client’s best interest, ChatGPT does not have such obligations. OpenAI includes a disclaimer stating that the tool “is not a substitute for professional financial advice,” yet this disclaimer