New Delhi: Whether it’s making investments or tracking daily expenditure, managing your money can be stressful. But now you can leave that to AI. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has rolled out a new personal finance feature that lets you connect your bank account to it and get detailed financial advice.
OpenAI launched the preview version of the new feature on 15 May for Pro users in the US.
“Now you can securely connect your financial accounts, see a dashboard of where your money is going, and ask ChatGPT questions grounded in your financial context—all while staying in control of your data,” OpenAI said in a statement.
To get started, users must give OpenAI direct access to their financial accounts on iOS or web. Currently, it supports over 12,000 financial institutions, including Bank of America and American Express.
Once the set-up is done, ChatGPT will analyse your data and produce a detailed dashboard, displaying your net worth, monthly expenditure, category-wise recent transactions, and even upcoming payments.
Through pie charts and line graphs, users can figure out where they can save money and where they need to invest more. Beyond this, Pro users can also feed into ChaGPT information related to mortgage and stock investments, and ask personal finance questions such as “how can I save up to buy a house next year”, “is it wise to invest in gold now”, or “will this stock give me good returns in the future”.
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Questions of privacy
OpenAI has claimed that sensitive financial data of users who give access to their bank accounts will remain secure, and that “we have built this experience to respect your privacy and ensure that you’re in control of your information”.
According to the AI firm, while ChatGPT can view and analyse investments, liabilities, and transactions, it cannot access full account numbers of users, preventing unauthorised transactions.
The new feature also allows one to disconnect their bank accounts anytime, after which any financial information of the user with the chatbot will be deleted from OpenAI’s systems within 30 days.
OpenAI claims that already over 200 million seek financial advice from ChatGPT, asking questions about budgeting and investments.
The new feature has also raised privacy concerns, with some calling the idea of linking bank accounts with an AI chatbot “scary’ and “horrfying”.
In an Instagram reel, a user claimed that OpenAI makes money through ads and can sell users’ crucial financial information to advertisers, who will then influence your spending decisions.
“No way people are trusting chatGPT with their bank account information after their data sharing charges,” a person wrote on X.
Another asked, “Does anyone actually think this is a good idea?”
“I want this to work, but trusting ChatGPT with my bank account feels like letting my therapist handle my taxes,” a person wrote on X.