ChatGPT as a Financial Assistant

Artificial intelligence has so far helped with writing emails, programming, and searching for information. OpenAI is now pushing its use into a completely new area – personal finance. In the preliminary version available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers, users can connect their bank accounts and let AI take on the role of a financial analyst.

The connection works through Plaid, a service that allows applications to securely communicate with banking systems. OpenAI states that Plaid covers more than 12,000 banks worldwide. Once the user authorizes access, ChatGPT creates a clear dashboard displaying key data from bank accounts.

What Can the New Feature Do?

Users can ask the chatbot questions about their financial situation through natural language. ChatGPT not only answers but also visualizes data in simple charts. At a glance, you can see monthly expenses, the structure of your investment portfolio, or the development of savings over time.

Among the practical capabilities are:

• Expense Analysis: ChatGPT can divide transactions into categories, show where money most often disappears, and identify subscriptions that can be safely canceled.
• Investment Evaluation: The user can ask whether their portfolio contains risky stocks or how their investments have developed in recent months.
• Budget Planning: Are you going on vacation or want a new car? ChatGPT will create a savings plan and estimate when you will reach the target amount.
• Trend Tracking: The chatbot compares current expenses with historical data and alerts you to unusual changes in financial behavior.

According to OpenAI's official announcement, the new features were tested in cooperation with more than 50 financial experts. A special benchmark was created to measure the accuracy and usefulness of AI in financial decisions.

Under the Hood: GPT-5.5 Thinking

The core of the new services is the GPT-5.5 Thinking model – a variant of OpenAI's latest language model optimized for advanced reasoning. On the FinanceAgent benchmark, which tests models' ability to analyze financial reports and statements, this model achieved 60% success rate.

GPT-5.5 Thinking also broke the record on the FrontierMath Tier 4 test, which contains mathematical problems at the doctoral level. This suggests that the model is capable of processing not only simple balances but also complex financial scenarios requiring deeper analytical thinking.

Comparison with Competition

The idea of connecting AI with personal finance is not unique, but OpenAI brings a conversational interface that competitors have not yet offered in this integration:

• Google Finance provides data on stocks and markets but does not analyze individual bank accounts.
• Apple Wallet and Apple Card offer clear expense categorizations but without an advanced language model capable of answering complex questions.
• Intuit Mint (now moved to Credit Karma) long dominated the personal finance category, but its features were static compared to ChatGPT's dynamic dialogue.
• Robo-advisors like Betterment or Wealthfront invest automatically but do not provide a holistic overview of all bank accounts.

In the Czech environment, there are tools like Portu for investing or financial planning in mobile apps of Czech banks (Fio, George from ČSOB, RB klíč). However, none of them offer universal aggregation of accounts from multiple banks combined with generative artificial intelligence.

Availability in the Czech Republic and Europe

Currently, the preview of personal finances in ChatGPT Pro is limited to selected users in the United States. However, OpenAI states that it plans to make the feature available to "everyone," which suggests future expansion even to free accounts.

For Czech and European users, the key question is regulation. Connection with bank accounts requires compliance with open banking PSD2 standards and adherence to GDPR. Plaid operates in some European countries, but integration with Czech banks is not as extensive as in the USA. Although ChatGPT understands Czech and can respond, the banking integration itself will depend on local technical and legal readiness.

The ChatGPT Pro subscription costs $200 per month (approximately 4,500 CZK). This places the new features among premium services for demanding users who want maximum performance and the latest tools.

Future: From Passive Advisor to Active Agent

OpenAI is already hinting at further development. In the future, ChatGPT should not only advise but also actively perform tasks – for example, applying for a credit card and estimating the probability of approval. This would turn the chatbot into a financial agent with the ability to directly interact with banking systems.

Such a shift, however, also brings risks. Handing over financial data to a third party requires maximum trust in security and algorithm transparency. Users should be aware that AI can provide a useful overview, but final investment decisions should always be consulted with a qualified expert.