“In May 2026, OpenAI launched a dedicated personal-finance experience allowing users to connect bank accounts via Plaid and ask questions grounded in their actual balances. OpenAI reports that more than 200 million people use ChatGPT monthly for budgeting, investing, and planning queries. Search engines like Perplexity have built similar account-linking capabilities, while single-bank tools like Bank of America’s Erica have logged billions of customer interactions.”