OpenAI launched a financial assistant in ChatGPT with access to accounts

OpenAI presented a new financial assistant directly in ChatGPT. Users will be able to connect their bank accounts, credit cards, investment portfolios, and loans — and then ChatGPT will be able to answer questions based on real data about a person's finances. The feature was launched on May 15 in preview for US Pro subscribers.

How to connect accounts

Integration works through Plaid — a platform that has long connected applications with banks. The process is simple: a user opens ChatGPT, selects the option to connect financial accounts, authorizes through their bank, chooses which accounts to allow, and that's it. ChatGPT gains access to information about balances, recent transactions, credit limits, and investment portfolios. For now, the feature is only available to US Pro subscribers on the web version and iOS. Expansion to other countries and platforms is planned for later, but no timeline has been given.

What ChatGPT will be able to do with your data

When a bank is connected, new capabilities appear:

• Analyze spending by category and provide budget recommendations
• Identify patterns: where large sums go, which subscriptions accumulate
• Plan savings goals and investments
• Quick answers to questions about balance and recent payments
• Analyze credit conditions and recommend debt optimization
• Provide tax and investment advice based on portfolio

In theory, this sounds like a personal financial advisor who knows your numbers. In practice, it's a large-scale system that collects the most sensitive data from millions of people in one place.

Security and new risks

The idea is tempting — to have a financial assistant with full access to your accounts. But it significantly increases risks. If OpenAI or Plaid suffer a breach, criminals will end up with details of all bank accounts, loans, investments, and payments. This is not just a password to an account — it's the complete financial history of each user.

OpenAI states that data is encrypted end-to-end, the system follows PCI-DSS standards and other security requirements. But when millions of people connect their accounts here, it becomes target number one for hackers and state intelligence services. History shows that even the largest companies with enormous security budgets suffer data leaks. There's a second problem too: data ends up in model embeddings. OpenAI can use anonymized aggregated financial data to improve models and recommendations. Users should understand that their financial habits become part of AI training.

What it means

AI is transitioning from a question-answering assistant to a personal financial manager with full account access. This is convenient, but it creates a concentration of risk in one place. Every user should honestly ask themselves: how much do I trust OpenAI with my banking data? And even if you trust the company — you are betting along with it on perfect infrastructure security and the absence of breaches.