Share This Article
Key Points
- Cincinnati Exchange co-owner Adam Koehler estimates AI saved him 60 to 75 hours in August 2026, based on his own rough reconstruction of the month rather than a time study.
- Koehler says the biggest AI productivity gain comes from reducing the time spent rebuilding context when switching between his agency, coworking, software, and news businesses.
- OpenAI added Experian credit reports and VantageScore 3.0 scores to ChatGPT Finances on Sept. 21, 2026, for U.S. Plus and Pro subscribers.
- A Kentucky federal judge preliminarily enjoined the CFPB’s 2024 open-banking data rule, and the appeals are pending before the Sixth Circuit in downtown Cincinnati.
Article Summary:
Adam Koehler, who runs a web agency, a Covington coworking business, a software startup, and The Cincinnati Exchange, estimates AI saved him 60 to 75 hours in August 2026, based on his own reconstruction. He says most of the gain came from not having to rebuild context between businesses. ChatGPT’s new Experian credit-score connection shows how far these tools now reach into business and financial information.
On Tuesday, I gave ChatGPT one more piece of information about my life: my credit report.
That sounds like a personal finance story, but it’s really about running four businesses at once.
AI productivity for me stopped meaning faster writing a while ago. It’s become the place where I manage a growing share of the work behind a web agency, a coworking building, a software startup, and this newsroom. I went back through August and estimated how much time that saved me. My answer came out between 60 and 75 hours.
That figure comes from my own reconstruction of the month, not a time log, so treat it as one owner’s rough estimate. Even the low end equals a week and a half of 40-hour workweeks.
How AI Fits Into Four Different Businesses
My week covers a lot of ground. Reversed Out Creative builds websites for clients. CovWorx runs a coworking floor in Covington. Content Credits builds tools that help publishers get paid for their work. And The Cincinnati Exchange covers this region.
None of those jobs fill an eight-hour day on their own. A normal morning can jump from an agency client to a Covington building issue to Content Credits to an Exchange story within an hour. Plenty of small Business owners live some version of that. You’re the salesperson, the project manager, the bookkeeper, and the person who answers when the Wi-Fi goes down.
Every Time I Switch Businesses, I Have to Rebuild Context
Some of the time savings come from AI writing things for me. But the bigger gain comes from the friction between tasks.
Think about what switching used to cost. Before I could answer a client, I had to find the last email, reopen the proposal, reread a two-week thread, and reconstruct what we’d agreed to. Then a building problem came up, and I did the same thing for a completely different set of people. Every switch carried a tax before any real work started.
Now I ask. “What did we tell this client about the launch date?” “Where does this story stand?” The answer comes back in seconds, and I start on the actual work.
For one person running four businesses, that tax adds up faster than anything else, because I pay it every day.
What a Morning of AI Productivity Looks Like
Most mornings start with a briefing. ChatGPT tells me what changed across the businesses and what needs my attention first.
Then I go for a walk. Because ChatGPT connects to my email, I can say “check what came in” and talk through what matters out loud. It pulls up the history on something I forgot about, helps me think through the reply, and sends it when I say so.
On one recent walk, I followed up with clients and checked on projects. I worked through a server issue, sent reports, chased proposals, and got back to people who’d been waiting on me. I got my steps in the whole time. Before, each of those tasks meant sitting at a desk, searching Gmail, and rereading everything before writing a word.
Where the 60 to 75 Hours Came From
This wasn’t a time study. I went back through the kinds of work I handled during August and compared them with how I used to do the same work before AI became part of my daily workflow.
The savings showed up across email and follow-up, proposals, meeting notes, research, writing and editing, strategy, and financial questions. Some jobs saved a few minutes. Others saved an hour or more. Added across a month, my rough estimate came to 60 to 75 hours.
At 60 hours, that’s seven and a half eight-hour workdays. At 75, it’s more than nine. I’m not working nine fewer days. I’m getting those hours back in small pieces throughout the day.
Meetings show how that works. After a meeting, I can drop the transcript into ChatGPT and ask it to pull out the decisions, open questions, and next steps. I’ve used that to turn meetings into summaries and follow-up materials, so I don’t have to rebuild everything from my notes afterward.
ChatGPT for the Day, Claude for the Draft
I don’t use one tool for everything. ChatGPT handles the running operation: the morning briefing, email, voice conversations on walks, and now the financial side.
I lean on Anthropic’s Claude when I need a serious document. Proposals are the clearest example. I hand over my call notes and the scope as I understand it. I get to a solid draft far faster than I would if I were staring at a blank page.
The Exchange uses both. Drafts move back and forth between the two models, and each one checks the other’s facts and sourcing. Neither gets the last word. I do, and every claim still has to trace back to a primary source before it runs.
What a Small Business Owner Can Plug In Today
This part surprises people who still think of AI as a chatbot. ChatGPT can now send email from Gmail or Outlook, run scheduled tasks, and check connected apps for changes, according to OpenAI’s release notes. Intuit’s help page walks QuickBooks Online users through connecting their books to ask about invoices and payroll.
I use the QuickBooks connection too. Instead of opening the accounting system and digging through reports, I can ask who owes us money or work through a category of expenses conversationally. It doesn’t replace the books. It gives me another way into them.
With those connections in place, I can ask the same system about an unpaid invoice, a client email, and tomorrow’s schedule without opening three different applications.
The Credit Score Is the Newest Piece
That brings me back to Tuesday. OpenAI added a credit-score connection to ChatGPT Finances on Monday, and I connected mine the next day.
I connected the credit report because I already use ChatGPT to help me think through financial questions across my businesses and personal finances. I wanted to see whether having the actual credit data inside the same system would make those conversations more useful.
The details matter. ChatGPT shows a VantageScore 3.0 built from Experian data, and that may not match the score a lender pulls for a mortgage or credit card. The score updates monthly, and the credit link works without connecting a bank account. The feature is rolling out to Plus and Pro subscribers in the U.S.
Bank data runs through Plaid, which connects to more than 12,000 financial institutions, according to OpenAI’s Finances help page. OpenAI warns that some accounts won’t supply every type of data Finances uses. ChatGPT can’t see full account numbers, move money, pay bills, or make trades.
The privacy tradeoff deserves a plain statement. Disconnect Experian, and OpenAI deletes the underlying credit report data within 30 days; Plaid-synced account data leaves on the same clock. Anything you already discussed in a chat stays in your history until you delete it yourself.
Who Controls That Data Runs Through Cincinnati
The rules underneath all this remain unsettled, and the fight runs through our region. Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires covered providers of consumer financial products or services, subject to CFPB rules, to make certain account data available to consumers on request. In October 2024, the CFPB finalized a rule that barred covered financial institutions from charging consumers or third parties for covered data transfers, according to a Congressional Research Service summary.
Forcht Bank, the Kentucky Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute sued in the Eastern District of Kentucky the day the rule came out. The CFPB later switched sides and called its own rule unlawful. On Oct. 29, 2025, Judge Danny C. Reeves preliminarily enjoined enforcement and stayed the compliance deadlines.
The appeals now sit in abeyance at the Sixth Circuit, which hears cases at 100 E. Fifth St. downtown. The CFPB sent its replacement proposal to White House regulatory reviewers on Aug. 4. As of Sept. 22, 2026, OIRA still listed it as pending review, and the agency had not published the proposal.
Locally, Plaid’s institution page lists Fifth Third as supported for balances and transactions. That doesn’t show whether Fifth Third accounts work inside ChatGPT Finances specifically.
What August Taught Me About AI Productivity
The legal fight will settle who pays whom for the pipes. It won’t change the lesson from my August.
I didn’t get those hours back from faster writing. I got them back from not having to go find things. An email, a meeting transcript, a proposal, a financial question,n or a half-finished story can all be waiting for me when I switch back. When you’re moving among four businesses all day, those few minutes are where the hours disappear.
FAQs
How much time can AI save a small business owner?
It depends on the work. Cincinnati Exchange co-owner Adam Koehler estimates AI saved him 60 to 75 hours in August 2026 across email, proposals, meetings, research, writing and planning for four businesses. He compared the month’s work with how he used to do it. It’s a rough estimate, not a time study.
Where does most of the AI time savings come from?
For owners who juggle several roles, much of the savings comes from context switching. Instead of finding old emails, reopening documents and rereading threads before starting a task, an owner can ask an AI assistant for the history and start working. Koehler says that reduced friction between tasks matters more than faster writing.
What's the difference between using ChatGPT and Claude for business?
Many owners use more than one model. Koehler uses ChatGPT for daily operations, including a morning briefing, email, and voice conversations, and Anthropic’s Claude for longer documents such as client proposals. At The Cincinnati Exchange, drafts pass between the two models to verify facts, with a human editor making final decisions.
What does the ChatGPT credit score feature show?
ChatGPT Finances shows a VantageScore 3.0 based on your Experian credit report, updated monthly, with alerts for changes such as new inquiries or accounts. It launched Sept. 21, 2026, for U.S. Plus and Pro subscribers. The score may differ from the one a lender uses, and it doesn’t require linking a bank account.
What happens to my data if I disconnect ChatGPT Finances?
OpenAI says Experian stops sharing reports after you disconnect and OpenAI deletes the underlying Experian credit report data within 30 days. Plaid-synced account data also leaves OpenAI’s systems within 30 days. Disconnecting does not delete information already in your chat history, so you have to delete those conversations separately.
This article was produced with assistance from The Cincinnati Exchange’s proprietary AI article system and reviewed by a human editor. This is a first-person analysis piece reflecting the experience and views of the author, a co-owner of The Cincinnati Exchange. Forcht Bank, N.A. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains pending; descriptions of each side’s arguments reflect their filings and public statements, not findings of the court.
