Read only, until it earns more

Major U.S. banks are restricting outside AI agents after reports of agents getting into customer accounts and possibly acting beyond what the person asked. Axios reported it on Oct 22, and CIO Dive picked it up last week.

The line from that coverage I keep coming back to is from Tyler Thompson, who co-chairs the AI practice at the law firm Reed Smith: "'The vendor said it was safe' is not much of a governance program."

So here's my question for you. How many AI tools can log in to something in your business right now? Your bank feed, QuickBooks, your inbox, your calendar, your website?

This is for owners who have connected an AI tool or plug-in to their accounts, or are about to. It takes about 30 minutes.

By the end, you'll know:

• how to find every AI tool that holds a key to your business
• how to tell a tool that reads from a tool that acts
• what to switch off this week

1. List every tool that holds a key

Start with the connected-apps settings in your email account and your accounting software. That's where most connected tools show up.

Write each tool on 1 line: the tool, what it connects to and who set it up. For example: "Meeting notes app, connects to calendar and email, set up by me in March." If nobody knows who set something up, that's your first finding.

2. Mark each one read or act

Read means it can see. Act means it can send, pay, delete or change something.

An AI that summarizes your inbox needs to read your email, and that's all. A bookkeeping assistant that sorts your transactions needs to read your bank feed. Moving money is a separate permission. Keep it off. Put an R or an A next to every line on your list.

3. Switch off anything that acts without needing to

Default to read only. If a tool truly has to act, a person approves before anything goes out.

That's how I run mine. AI preps, I check, and nothing goes to a client until I've read it. In practice that means AI drafts wait for me instead of going out on their own.

4. Ask what a mistake would cost

Thompson's list for CFOs is a good one: the software, integration, human review, security, compliance, insurance and "the cost of an error." For a small shop, take the last one and ask it about each tool on your list: if this tool did the wrong thing at 2 a.m., what would it cost me to fix?

If you can't answer that, the tool stays read only until you can.

A quick note on the source: this story is early. The coverage doesn't name the banks or say how many accounts were affected, and I'm working from CIO Dive's summary of the Axios report. The checklist works either way.

Start this week

Make the list, mark R or A, and switch off 1 thing that acts without needing to. Then keep the list somewhere you'll see it every week.

If you want a second set of eyes on what you've connected, grab a time with me.

Source: Axios, Oct 22, 2026, via CIO Dive, Oct 2026.