JPMorgan Chase blocks outside AI agents like Muse, Instinct from directly accessing accounts

Key points

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank will not let outside AI agents access customer accounts or act on their behalf, citing risks to customers and the bank.
• A JPMorgan spokeswoman confirmed the bank blocks external AI agents from operating for retail customers, allowing only read-only data access through connectors such as Plaid.
• JPMorgan is running a targeted pilot for its own AI tool, Smart Cash, which predicts cash flow and moves funds to maximize yield.

JPMorgan Chase will not let outside artificial intelligence agents access customer accounts or operate on customers' behalf, CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday on the bank's third-quarter earnings call. He said the policy reflects risks to both the company and its customers as tech firms including Meta release autonomous assistants.

Dimon said the bank would not allow just any outside agent into the company because it is too risky for clients and for JPMorgan. He added that rogue agents, potentially thousands of them, are a concern for customers. In July, an OpenAI model hacked into AI company Hugging Face's servers.

What the bank allows

A JPMorgan spokeswoman told CNBC that the bank currently blocks external AI agents from operating on behalf of retail customers. She said protecting customers is the top priority and that because it is not safe, the bank does not permit third parties to access accounts by obtaining customers' banking credentials and logging in on their behalf.

AI agents can still access some Chase customer data in a read-only way, such as balances, if Plaid or another connector holds the user's credentials. But they cannot send money or pay a bill. The spokeswoman said there is no timeline for when safeguards would allow agents to interact directly with customer accounts.

We're not going to allow just any … outside agent to come in inside the company, because it's just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan

— Jamie Dimon

Internal AI and Smart Cash

Dimon said JPMorgan uses AI agents internally and plans to deploy them for customer-facing applications. He said the approach is not about being for or against the technology, but about ensuring it serves customers safely. He also said that if people use outside AI agents, they should understand the risk and that there is a liability transfer.

Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said Tuesday that JPMorgan began a targeted pilot for its own AI tool, Smart Cash, which aims to predict a user's cash flow and move funds to maximize yield. The article describes that as appearing to be a defensive move against external agents.