OpenAI Pairs with Plaid for Wider Access to Personal Finance

Financial tools are being made increasingly accessible to conversational AI users as announcements such as OpenAI’s new financial experience are revealed. 

The trend comes as reports point to consumers using AI for financial literacy and spend management, as Lloyds Banking Group published research toward the end of 2025 stating that more than 28 million UK adults are using AI for financial guidance – making it the top use of AI in the country. 

Across the pond, a study from US Bank declares that the percentage of Americans using AI to help manage finances has increased, from 10% to more than half (55%) in 2026. 

The same report indicates that only 18% of respondents are comfortable allowing AI to make major financial decisions. 

OpenAI aims to change that with its latest feature: ChatGPT Pro users in the US will be able to securely connect financial accounts to the conversational AI to study real-world use and feedback improvements to the service. 

The AI giant states that more than “200 million come to ChatGPT every month for budgeting, questions about their investments, comparing different paths, planning for future goals and more”.

In connecting financial accounts, the advanced reasoning of ChatGPT-5.5 can combine its intelligence with real financial context to improve financial literacy, detailing patterns, understand tradeoffs and what users have shared about their goals, lifestyle and priorities. 

OpenAI warns that ChatGPT “is not a replacement for financial advice”, however, aims to support users with their ability to stay informed about finances. 

More than 12,000 financial institutions will support the rollout for US users as the company aims to make the service accessible to its wider audience. 

Linking the accounts to the chat 

Taking only a few minutes, users are able to link their financial information by opening the Finances sidebar or simply including the prompt: ‘@Finances, connect my accounts’. 

Financial software company Plaid will link the accounts and OpenAI provides a guide to linking.

This supports Plaid’s wider mission to “unlock financial freedom for everyone”.

Zach Perret, CEO of Plaid, says he is "very excited to work with OpenAI to launch Finances in ChatGPT".

He adds: "AI is transforming how consumers interact with their finances. This is an important step towards bringing sophisticated, personalised financial advice to more people.”

Intuit is also expected to provide support soon as part of an ecosystem of trusted partners. 

Powered by Intuit, OpenAI gives the example that users could “could go from getting a credit card recommendation to understanding approval odds and submitting an application, or from asking about tax implications of a stock sale to getting a trusted tax estimate and scheduling a session with a live, local tax expert, powered by Intuit and all inside ChatGPT”.

Personal data and privacy controls 

Users can share context about their financial lives to help refine ChatGPT’s advice, which is then saved to influence future answers.

The approach ensures a less fragmented and individual experience for users. 

As the data is highly sensitive, OpenAI emphasises that an element of privacy is built in to the service. 

ChatGPT cannot see full account numbers or make any changes to accounts, OpenAI says. It will still be able to access balances, transactions, investments and liabilities in order to provide tailored financial data. 

With privacy in mind, OpenAI has included several options to ensure user control.

These include the ability to disconnect accounts, delete financial memories and the use of temporary chats that do not allow the connection to financial accounts. 

The conversations surrounding financial accounts will follow the same model training settings applicable across ChatGPT, also available to be changed by users in their settings.

Multi-factor authentication can also be enabled, similar to banks, to add an extra security layer to prevent unauthorised access. 

Working with 50 finance professionals across what OpenAI terms as “leading institutions”, the AI giant has an internal benchmark to gage responses holistically.

It will grade ChatGPT’s performance for challenging personal finance tasks.