The SEC chief sees A.I. creating ‘conflicts of interest’ and maybe the next great financial crisis—unless we tackle 'herding'

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Gary Gensler isn’t an A.I. skeptic. In a Monday speech at the National Press Club, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair said that he believes A.I. is “the most transformative technology of our time, on par with the internet and mass production of automobiles.” But that doesn’t mean that the famously tough regulator, who has presided over a “crypto crackdown” in the last 12 months, thinks A.I. will be a good thing for markets.

As is the case with any major technological advancement, Gensler fears there will be “macro challenges for society” as A.I. rolls out to the public. On Monday, the former MIT Sloan School of Management professor detailed the risks that he sees A.I. posing to the global economy and argued that governments will need to rewrite their rulebooks to deal with the threat.