u/Midnite1004

OpenAI dropped this yesterday. Pro users in the US can connect their bank accounts via Plaid and get a spending dashboard, portfolio view, subscriptions, upcoming payments. They’re saying 200M+ people already ask ChatGPT finance questions every month, and they quietly bought the Hiro team last month to ship it.

Bit of a gut punch if you’re building anything in this space. Why open your app when ChatGPT is already where people live.

The reactions have been brutal though. Lots of “you literally just got sued for leaking ChatGPT data to Google and Meta and now you want my bank login?” Hard to argue with that.

My read: generic spend tracking is cooked. But privacy-first, local-first, or anything that isn’t “put your entire financial life in a chat log” probably just got more defensible, not less.

Anyone else building in finance? Pivoting, leaning in, or just ignoring it?

I just launched my app, Lens.

I’m a product guy who’s been using AI for workflows for years, then decided to see if I could actually build something useful.

Lens https://apple.co/4uK79pN started as a budgeting app, but it has grown into more of a personal finance tracker: helping you understand what you can spend today, where your money is going, and how you’re building towards your future.

I’ve been testing it myself for a while, but I’ve probably marked my own homework enough now.

I’d really appreciate it if you gave it a try and shared honest feedback.

What works? What feels confusing? What would make it more useful?

This is version 1, so there’s no bank syncing yet. I know that may be a barrier for some people, but it’s planned for a future release.

For now, Lens is manual, private, and built to help you see your money more clearly.

Would love your thoughts.

Thanks,