Claude AI can plug directly into your bank account

Anthropic has introduced a new Personal Finance feature for its Claude AI chatbot, allowing it to connect to your bank and card accounts through the Plaid banking platform. This feature enables Claude to provide insights into your spending habits and financial situation. By asking questions like "where did my money go this month," Claude can generate an overview of your spending broken down by categories such as rent, utilities, shopping, and food.

It can also answer broader questions about remaining bills before payday, affordability of big purchases like holidays, and potential monthly savings. Claude's access to your financial data is read-only, and it does not see your banking passwords, nor does it have the ability to manage, move, or invest your money. According to Anthropic, Claude is not designed to offer investment advice either.

The feature sees the bank's name, account names, account type, last four digits of the account number, your balances and credit limits, and up to two years of transaction history. Personal Finance in Claude is currently in beta, available to subscribers of Claude Pro, Max, and Ultra plans in the US. Anthropic sees this as a starting point and emphasizes that AI should work alongside licensed professionals and regulated financial firms for major financial decisions.

They are open to collaborating with banks, wealth managers, and financial services companies to further develop this feature.