The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is planning to launch a “live artificial intelligence (AI) testing service” for advice firms and others in the sector.
The service would be a new part of the FCA’s AI Lab, which has been supporting firms with the development and deployment of AI.
The regulator said the AI testing service would help to fill what it sees as a “testing gap slowing firms’ adoption of AI”.
It will allow firms to collaborate with the FCA while they check that their new AI tools are ready to be used. It would also provide the regulator with intelligence to better understand how AI may impact UK financial markets.
The FCA hopes the service will also provide regulatory support to firms who are ready to deploy AI models. The launch is planned for this September, and would run for 12 to 18 months.
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The regulator is seeking views from firms about how the service can help them deploy “safe and responsible AI”, which will benefit UK consumers and markets. Feedback to the plans closes on 10 June.
The proposal builds on the FCA’s new five-year strategy, which sets out how it will support growth by enabling innovation and competitiveness.
Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s chief data, intelligence and information officer, said: “Under our new strategy, we’ve committed to being increasingly tech positive to support growth. We want financial firms and their customers to benefit from AI, so we’re providing a safe space to test how they plan to use it.”
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