Why should you never share your banking password with an AI assistant — and what should you do instead?

Bank of America has warned customers never to share their banking username and password with an AI assistant or agent, and says customers are responsible for activity resulting from shared access. Here is why the password itself is the problem, the safer ways to get help with your money, and the steps to take if you have already shared it.

Short answer: never give an AI assistant your banking username and password — not to be helpful, not “just to check a balance.” Bank of America has now warned customers directly, in an email reported by TechCrunch, that credentials should never be shared with another person or an outside service, “including an AI-enabled tool or agent that offers to act on your behalf.” Why it matters: your password cannot tell the difference between you and a program holding it. An assistant with your login can act with your full access, a flaw in that assistant can leak the credentials onward, and the bank’s own warning adds the sharpest point — if you share your credentials, you are responsible for the activity that results from that access, which can put your fraud protection at risk exactly when you need it most.1. Bank only in the official app or website.

Download your bank’s app from the official app store, and let the app — not a chat window — hold your sign-in.2. Turn on passkeys or biometrics where offered. A fingerprint, face sign-in, or passkey unlocks your account without a reusable password that can be pasted into the wrong place.3.

Use only connections your bank itself offers. If your bank provides an approved, read-only connection for budgeting tools — the kind that shows balances without handing over your password — that is the ceiling. If a tool asks you to type your bank password into its own screen, stop.4.

Already shared it? Change the password now, from the bank’s official app, then sign out other sessions if the app offers that option.5. Revoke third-party access.

In your bank’s security settings, review connected apps and remove anything you do not recognise, then turn on alerts for sign-ins and transfers so you see every move.Pro tip: Let the AI help around the money, never inside it — explaining a statement you paste in with account numbers removed, or drafting a budget, is a safe job. Holding your login is not.Ad’s take: “Kindly asks” is polite bank language for a hard line. Your password is the keys to the vault; a helpful robot is still somebody else holding your keys.