ChatGPT’s Plaid Partnership Moves AI’s Data-Driven Advice Outside the Bank

OpenAI’s announcement that ChatGPT Pro users can now connect their bank accounts to the service via Plaid to bolster financial conversations lands squarely in an area of susceptibility for most banks and credit unions. Large language models like ChatGPT are designed around the sort of conversational experiences that grab “share of mind,” which Javelin Strategy & Research consistently cites as the avenue to subsequent share of wallet. ChatGPT is adept at delivering deep, contextual conversations around finances. The typical script-bound bank chatbot is not. And now, working through fintech Plaid and open banking to make connections to consumers’ financial accounts, ChatGPT is poised to take these data-driven conversations deeper—and outside of banking channels. 

In the near term, the threat is not to banks’ holdings or products. The greater risk is that FIs suffer another deep cut from disintermediation and move closer to being relegated to conduits for information that other entities use to foster consumer trust and build lasting advisory relationships.

Companies Mentioned:

ChatGPT, FIS, Fiserv, Lumin Digital, OpenAI, Plaid