Your AI assistant is not welcome at your bank

Axios reported Thursday that Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and other big banks are racing to contain unapproved AI agents inside customer accounts. Some banks have detected agents calling call centers or taking steps that do not clearly match the user's instructions, and Morgan Stanley has begun blocking third-party agents from its platforms.

The catch: in most cases the customer handed the agent their own username and password. Banks say a human must log in, and they often cannot tell an agent's actions from the customer's own clicks — one bank executive called the situation horrifying. Some institutions are considering read-only access that lets approved tools view account data without authorizing transfers.

The honest caveat, preserved from the reporting: Reuters said it could not independently verify the reported incidents, and Morgan Stanley told Axios it had not observed "rogue AI agents accessing our platforms." The crackdown itself — restrictions, tougher terms, read-only access plans — is well established.