Summary
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ChatGPT can connect to your bank to view balances, transactions, investments and liabilities.
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It offers personalized savings and budgeting tips when you can see your actual transactions.
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OpenAI says ChatGPT cannot see full account numbers or monitor accounts; Privacy controls included.
According to OpenAI, 200 million people visit ChatGPT every month with money-related problems. People want to learn how to save, how to earn more, and how to manage their investments, and when the human world doesn’t offer what they’re looking for, they turn to AI. However, for an AI to get a good idea of someone’s financial situation, it needs details about their accounts to make a better judgment.
So why not cut out the middleman and let AI take a look at your financial records? That’s exactly what OpenAI wants to do with its new feature. The company has announced that a new personal finance experience has come to ChatGPT, and fortunately, your AI companion won’t be able to make purchases on your behalf.
OpenAI reveals new financial experience for ChatGPT
Are you brave enough to admit that you spend too much on your hobbies?
In a blog post about the AI Open WebsiteThe company explains the new feature in preview right now. It allows you to connect ChatGPT to your bank account, giving its AI assistant the ability to take a look at your finances. On the website, OpenAI shows two examples of someone asking ChatGPT: “Help me come up with a plan to save a little more in the coming months,” one where the finance tool is not connected and one where it is.
Chatting without financial data is good, but since ChatGPT doesn’t know the user’s financial data, it has to settle for giving general advice. In comparison, the advice it gives when it has access to user data means it can summarize the user’s spending and give personalized advice based on what they spend their money on.
It’s useful, but the mere idea of giving a chatbot access to your financial records is enough to make privacy advocates nervous. Fortunately, if you’re worried about ChatGPT starting to invest in stocks while you sleep, OpenAI says its AI won’t have as much power:
Your financial data is confidential and we have created this experience to respect your privacy and ensure you are in control of your information.
When you connect your accounts, ChatGPT can access your balances, transactions, investments, and liabilities to help you view your finances or answer your questions. You cannot view full account numbers or make changes to your accounts.
While I can imagine that some people still don’t feel good about using this new financial tool, the truth is that if people are already uploading logs and statements to the AI for help, attaching your account to ChatGPT basically eliminates a few steps to achieve the same result.
