OpenAI wants ChatGPT to see your bank account. The pitch is convenience. The risk is everything else.

OpenAI's launch of a personal finance experience inside ChatGPT, allowing subscribers to connect their bank accounts, credit cards, investment portfolios, and loan accounts, marks a significant expansion of the chatbot's capabilities. This new feature, powered by Plaid, enables users to ask questions grounded in their actual financial data, potentially increasing the chatbot's usefulness and appeal. For website owners, this development means that AI bot traffic may soon include more personalized and sensitive financial inquiries, as users become accustomed to sharing their financial data with ChatGPT. This could lead to an increase in AI-generated traffic related to financial topics, which website owners should be prepared to handle. Moreover, website owners who deal with financial topics may need to reassess their content policies and consider how to address potential AI-generated queries that may be based on users' personal financial data. To prepare for this shift, website owners can take several steps: first, review their llms.txt files to ensure they are up-to-date and accurately reflect their site's policies on AI-generated traffic and sensitive user data. Second, consider implementing measures to detect and handle AI-generated queries related to financial topics, such as using specific keywords or flags to identify these types of inquiries. Third, monitor their site's traffic and engagement metrics to gauge the impact of ChatGPT's personal finance feature on their online presence and adjust their content strategies accordingly.