Anthropic launches Claude Personal Finance feature; users can link bank accounts, track expenses

New Delhi: Anthropic has rolled out a personal finance feature to its Claude chatbot. The AI assistant would enable users to link their bank accounts and cards and put forward their queries regarding expenses and other matters related to their finances.

The feature, for now, would be available to beta subscribers of Claude Pro, Max and Ultra plans in the United States.

Claude would provide answers to queries regarding spending, transactions and balances in everyday language once users link their bank and card accounts.

Moreover, the company has ensured the security of users' data, highlighting that the AI assistant would only be able to read their financial information. The chatbot would not be able to move, manage or invest money. Claude would only be able to read the account name, balance, credit limits and transaction history of the previous two years.

Additionally, the feature is not aimed at providing investment advice. Instead, users would be able to track their money, understand their balances and accordingly manage their finances. For example, after reading the balance and transaction history, the AI assistant would let users know where they spent their money, explain complex terms and even flag forgotten expenses such as membership renewals.

A user planning an expense in the near future, such as a trip or a family event, can use Claude's Personal Finance feature to gauge the budget. The chat can be carried out in everyday language to ease engagement and make the feature user-friendly.

Users would thus be able to create spending charts, mark upcoming expenses and bills, understand complex issues related to money and payments, and flag duplicate charges, automatic payments, etc.

The feature would be enabled via Plaid, a service that connects applications to banks, and would not use the data to train its AI models. Users can disconnect their accounts whenever they want, following which the chatbot would lose all access to their financial information.

Anthropic has further clarified that there would be no ads or sponsored recommendations, thus ensuring that the answers given by the chatbot would be based solely on users' account history and finances.

Eligible users can find the Personal Finance feature in the sidebar, following which they would be able to link their accounts and ask questions.