OpenAI wants ChatGPT to become your money manager with new finance tools – Firstpost

For years, people have turned to budgeting apps, spreadsheets and finance advisers to understand where their money goes every month. OpenAI now wants ChatGPT to become part of that equation.

The company has unveiled a new suite of personal finance features for ChatGPT Pro users in the United States, giving the AI chatbot access to users’ financial accounts and spending habits through integrations with financial connectivity platform Plaid. The tools, currently available in preview on the web and iOS, allow users to ask ChatGPT questions about their money in plain English, whether it is analysing monthly expenses, identifying subscriptions, or helping plan long-term goals like buying a home.

The launch marks one of OpenAI’s clearest moves yet towards turning ChatGPT into a more personalised digital assistant, capable of handling highly sensitive areas such as finances, health and everyday decision-making.

ChatGPT can now track your spending: How to enable it?

The setup process is designed to feel similar to linking a bank account with a budgeting app.

Users can open the “Finances” tab in the ChatGPT sidebar and select the “Get started” option, or simply type a request asking ChatGPT to connect financial accounts. From there, the chatbot guides users through linking accounts securely using Plaid, a widely used financial connectivity service.

Through the integration, users can connect accounts from more than 12,000 financial institutions, including major names such as Chase, Fidelity, Schwab, Robinhood, American Express and Capital One.

Once connected, ChatGPT generates a dashboard summarising account balances, investment performance, spending patterns, recurring subscriptions and upcoming payments. Users can then ask follow-up questions conversationally, such as why spending increased during a particular month or whether current savings are sufficient for a future financial goal.

OpenAI said more than 200 million users already ask ChatGPT finance-related questions every month, making the feature a natural extension of how people are already using AI tools.

How does it work?

The new finance tools are powered by GPT-5.5, which OpenAI claims offers stronger contextual reasoning for handling complex financial discussions. According to the company, finance specialists also helped establish benchmarks to improve the chatbot’s performance and reliability in this area.

The launch also follows OpenAI’s acquisition of the team behind personal finance startup Hiro earlier this year. Hiro, backed by investors including Ribbit and General Catalyst, specialised in helping users better understand and manage personal finances. OpenAI has not detailed exactly how much of Hiro’s technology made its way into the product, though the company acknowledged the team contributed expertise during development.

OpenAI also plans to add support for Intuit in the future, potentially allowing ChatGPT to tackle more advanced financial tasks. These could include estimating the tax impact of stock sales, assessing credit card approval odds, or providing deeper insights into investment decisions.

Given the sensitivity of financial information, OpenAI stressed that users remain in control of their data. Linked accounts can be disconnected at any time through settings, and synchronised financial data is deleted from ChatGPT within 30 days after disconnection. Users can also manually review and remove stored information through the Finances section.

The move reflects a growing race among AI companies to expand chatbots beyond simple conversations into specialised personal services. As AI assistants become increasingly embedded in daily life, finance may become the next major battleground.