{"text":[[{"start":5.72,"text":"The writer is chief financial officer at Schroders"}],[{"start":9.16,"text":"Many of us already use AI assistants to help make smarter decisions. We use apps to search for information, explain things and make recommendations. The next step for some will be to let these AI tools, or “agents”, take financial actions on our behalf."}],[{"start":24.4,"text":"Research suggests many consumers would be happy to let that happen — not just find a bank account but open it. Not just check their investment portfolio but make changes to it."}],[{"start":34.28,"text":"How far should regulators intervene on this? The issue has been brought into focus by the “Mills Review”, an ambitious attempt by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and one of its executive directors, Sheldon Mills, to grapple with the opportunities and challenges of AI in retail financial services. Two areas stood out to me."}],[{"start":52.96,"text":"First, Mills calls on the FCA to “enable the foundations of agentic finance”. This has the potential to rewire our industry, but only if these interactions actually work, serve consumers’ best interests, and only if people trust that they will do so. The UK has a chance to lead in developing the standards needed to do this well."}],[{"start":71.68,"text":"The second area that stood out was Mills’ recommendation that regulators seek to “secure and adapt” the current approach based on regulating activity to AI. Some have seized on this to make a call to “regulate AI”."}],[{"start":84.04,"text":"I understand that instinct. Our sector carries out a raft of regulated activities. We’re authorised to do so and comply with a slew of rules in the process. So, if ChatGPT does similar things, shouldn’t it have to do the same?"}],[{"start":97.02,"text":"I am not convinced this is the right outcome — although I recognise that’s a controversial view."}],[{"start":104.8,"text":"AI assistants are truly general-purpose. Alongside recipes or fashion, you can ask them for legal advice, or to diagnose a health problem. Whether you should or not is a different matter, but my point is that before we rush to regulate, we should step back and think more broadly."}],[{"start":117.88,"text":"Why should financial services alone determine how these tools are governed when they influence many other important, heavily regulated parts of our lives?"}],[{"start":126.28,"text":"Forcing these tools to withdraw from regulated areas could even hurt the consumers we’re trying to protect. Consumers will turn to their AI agents for information and help regarding investments, savings and credit products, insurance, tax, state benefits — and far more. If AI apps start refusing to answer these questions, we take away the tools consumers are turning to for help."}],[{"start":150.16,"text":"Part of the incredible power of this technology is the democratisation of expertise and access to information previously reserved for a few. While not blind to the risks, I am optimistic about AI’s potential to narrow knowledge gaps across the spectrum of financial services."}],[{"start":167.2,"text":"This is also a global technology. No one wants to see UK consumers worse off than those in other well-regulated markets, with access to a much less useful version of a tool that people elsewhere use freely."}],[{"start":179.96,"text":"An “agentic” future demands a more fundamental rethink. This is why I’m advocating that we jump straight to Mills’ longer-term recommendation that the FCA “keep under review” the effectiveness of the regulatory approach and consider more radical changes."}],[{"start":194.8,"text":"This does not mean giving up on making this approach as safe and effective as it can be, or on the good work under way to improve financial literacy and consumer confidence."}],[{"start":203.88,"text":"The UK could work with providers to agree guiding principles that help consumers know when what they’re being told is regulated and when it’s not, and what this means. We could establish trusted sources of data that properly reflect UK markets and consumers, so that when I ask a question the answer is based on what life is like for me, not someone in the US. We should consider how regulated firms can help people understand when AI-generated financial information is reliable, when it needs to be checked and when human support is essential."}],[{"start":234.94,"text":"And to be clear, this is certainly not to abandon the important role regulation plays in underpinning trust. An agentic future could reinforce, not diminish, the importance of trusted partners for our finances, with the badge of regulation denoting high standards and access to help if things go wrong."}],[{"start":252.34,"text":"In a world of ubiquitous models, the UK’s reputation for high-quality regulation and regulators could become a source of international strength and competitiveness, even if the tools live outside the traditional perimeter."}],[{"start":264.12,"text":"This technology is here to stay. It’s already in people’s hands, and adoption is growing fast. The real question for all of us — consumers, firms and regulators — is how to manage the risks of harm without denying people the benefits these tools can provide."}],[{"start":280.36,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789974023_5676.mp3"}