OpenAI launched a feature on Friday that’s dividing opinions: ChatGPT can now access your bank accounts. Through a partnership with Plaid, Pro subscribers in the US can connect accounts at over 12,000 financial institutions — from Chase and Fidelity to Robinhood and American Express.
How it works
Once connected, you get a dashboard showing portfolio performance, spending patterns, subscriptions, and upcoming payments. You can ask questions like “Have I been spending more recently?” or “Help me build a plan to buy a house in my area within five years.”
Access is read-only — ChatGPT can see balances, transactions, investments, and liabilities, but not full account numbers, and it can’t move money. You activate it through the “Finances” option in the sidebar or by typing “@Finances, connect my accounts” in a conversation.
Pro first, everyone else later
The feature is currently limited to ChatGPT Pro ($100/month) on web and iOS. OpenAI wants to gather feedback before rolling it out to Plus subscribers. Intuit integration is coming soon, which would unlock tax impact analysis and credit card approval predictions.
The reaction
The internet’s response has been predictable. A lot of people are asking who would voluntarily hand their banking data to OpenAI given the company’s privacy track record. Others see it more practically: 200 million users already ask ChatGPT financial questions every month — connecting actual accounts is just the logical next step.
My take
This is a bold move from OpenAI, but it comes with real risk. The finance industry is heavily regulated, and OpenAI doesn’t exactly have a reputation for setting the highest bar on data privacy. Plaid as the middleman is an established standard — but that doesn’t change the fact that your financial data now sits with an AI company.
For power users with solid financial literacy, this could genuinely be useful. For everyone else, it’s the kind of feature where you should pause and ask yourself: do I really trust this company with my account data?
Sources: TechCrunch · OpenAI Blog · SiliconANGLE