Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, stated that the agency would clamp down on market manipulation schemes.
Emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), are now on the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) radar. The SEC’s enforcement actions know no bounds.
Gary Gensler On AI Regulation
Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler recently stated that AI’s potential to interfere with and disrupt market dynamics would incur the agency’s wrath.
Speaking earlier this week before The National Press Club, the chairman stated that bad actors may attempt to use artificial intelligence to manipulate US markets or frighten the public, prompting the commission to respond appropriately.
In contrast to the common misconception, Gensler explained that “under the securities laws, fraud is fraud,’” regardless of the form it takes.
Bad actors may seek to use AI to influence our mkts, or spook the public. Make no mistake, under the securities laws, fraud is fraud. @SECGov is focused on identifying & prosecuting any form of fraud that might threaten investors, capital formation, or the mkts more broadly.
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) July 20, 2023The Artificial Intelligence ecosystem is still in its infancy, but since OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT, a conversational-style bot, there has been a clear adoption and growth in this area.
The introduction of ChatGPT has demonstrated that AI’s capabilities are limitless. Experts have asserted that, within the next few years, AI will be able to decipher such previously observed use cases that appear insurmountable.
The likelihood of training algorithms to exploit the financial market is high due to ChatGPT’s strong performance on both the Medical and Law exams.
Thus, the SEC stated that it will disfavor upon extraordinary conduct. The SEC Chairman verified that the agency is doing everything possible to identify and prosecute those who exploit or harm the markets in any way.
Crypto-Related Repression?
It is unknown whether the SEC intends to regulate AI service providers similarly to how it regulates crypto ecosystem participants. In the past year, the SEC has sued and settled with Kraken Exchange and is presently pursuing legal action against Coinbase and Binance, two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
With the recent XRP ruling in the Ripple vs. SEC case, industry stakeholders believe a precedent is being established that may influence future enforcement actions.
AI is a nascent industry, and stakeholders may soon join those in the blockchain ecosystem in requesting a specialized regulatory framework to govern these emerging technologies.
