TL;DR: By default, no, ChatGPT and Claude only know what was in their training data, which is stale and uncited. They have no live market feed built in. But you can give them live data by connecting a tool: an MCP server the agent calls, or a plain API. Once connected, the model fetches real numbers at answer time instead of guessing.

Why they can't, by default

An LLM is trained up to a cutoff date and then frozen. Ask it for "the latest" anything and it will produce a confident, plausible answer from memory, which may be months old or simply wrong. There's no live connection unless you add one. (This is also why they hallucinate numbers.)

How to give them live data

Two paths, depending on whether an agent or your code is calling:

1. Connect a tool via MCP (best for chat/agents)

Model Context Protocol lets the assistant call external tools. Add a market-data MCP server once and the agent can query it in plain language:

claude mcp add --transport http arkolith \
  https://arkolith.com/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"

Now ask: "Which funds hold Nvidia?" and the agent calls the tool and answers with sourced data. Full walkthrough: connect market data to Claude with MCP. New to MCP? Start here.

2. Call an API from your code (best for apps)

If you're building software around the model, hit a REST API directly and feed the result into your prompt:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://arkolith.com/api/v1/search?q=nvidia"

See the API docs for endpoints and fields.

The part that matters: sourcing

Connecting some data isn't enough, the agent should cite it. If each datapoint comes back with its source and timestamp, the assistant answers with verifiable evidence rather than a confident guess. That's the difference between "live" and "trustworthy."

Frequently asked questions

Can ChatGPT see real-time stock prices?

Not natively. With a connected tool or plugin that provides prices, it can fetch them at answer time.

Does Claude have internet/market access built in?

No live market feed by default. Connect an MCP server or API and it gains access to whatever that tool exposes.

Is this hard to set up?

No, one command to add an MCP server, or one bearer-token API call from code.

Arkolith is an MCP server + API for real-world market data, sourced to the origin. Get a key or read the docs.