As part of the ongoing story, starting today, Pro users in the US can connect their financial accounts to ChatGPT in order to get more personalized advice from the chatbot. OpenAI is rolling out a preview of a fresh personal finance capability inside of ChatGPT.
As part of the ongoing story, by building a framework that allows those people to connect their accounts to its servers, ChatGPT can go from offering generic advice to helping those same users take actions that more directly improve their lives. The integration is made possible through a partnership OpenAI has signed with Plaid, which offers connections to more than 12,000 financial institutions, including banks like Citi and Chase, in addition to services like Affirm and Robinhood. To hear OpenAI tell it, every month more than 200 million users already turn to ChatGPT for guidance on managing their money.
As part of the ongoing story, the chatbot will then start building a visual dashboard, like the one you see in the screenshot OpenAI provided. The process of generating a visual representation of your finances may take a few minutes. From there, you can select one of the starter prompts or ask your own questions. To begin using the fresh integration, find the "Finances" section inside of ChatGPT's sidebar or write a prompt along the lines of "@Finances, connect my accounts." ChatGPT will guide you through the process of importing your financial information through Plaid.
The report highlights that openAI is looking to address those concerns by limiting the scope of what its chatbot can see. According to the publisher, ChatGPT can only read your balances, transactions, investments and liabilities through Plaid. It cannot see full account numbers or make changes to your accounts through the system. Understandably, some people may be hesitant to share their financial information with ChatGPT.
Industry observers note that chatGPT cannot access these memories when using the temporary chats capability. Lastly, OpenAI's data controls settings apply to the fresh experience, so if you've already dug into those, your prompts and other information won't be used by the publisher to train future models. Additionally, the publisher says users can disconnect their financial accounts from ChatGPT at any time, and any memories the chatbot saves about your financial situation can be seen or deleted directly from the Finances section of the app.
In a fresh development, the publisher hopes to bring this fresh experience to more users, including Plus subscribers, in the future. "We're starting with a preview to a smaller group so we can learn from real-global stage use, improve the experience, and expand thoughtfully," OpenAI said. According to an OpenAI spokesperson, work on the capability began before the publisher's recent acquisition of fintech startup Hiro, which offered an AI-powered financial planning tool for consumers.