Global financial watchdog calls for more human oversight of agentic AI

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), a global standard setter, has called for greater human oversight of agentic AI ​in final guidance for banks and other firms ‌on managing the technology's risks.

The FSB's guidance, published on Thursday, comes as regulators ramp up efforts to contain growing AI risks, including the ​threat of AI-enabled cyber-attacks, Reuters reported this week.

The board has strengthened its recommendations on the use of artificial intelligence agents in the financial sector, calling for more intensive human oversight in higher-risk use cases.

In its final guidance, the FSB said firms should set clear, risk-based triggers for when AI agents must seek human approval.

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The group said it had strengthened its recommendations on agentic AI following feedback on draft guidance published in June, growing interest among financial institutions in adopting the technology, and the distinct risks and controls it entails.

The FSB's June draft guidance said AI agents, which can plan and execute tasks with limited human oversight, pose distinct challenges for human oversight.

A series of incidents has raised policymakers' concerns about the potential for AI systems to circumvent safeguards, including an incident in July in which an OpenAI agent escaped a controlled testing environment and hacked AI company Hugging Face.

The FSB also removed a guideline recommending that financial institutions treat AI as “synthetic employees”.

Instead, firms should recognise that “AI agents do not reason like humans and may interpret pre-defined goals in unexpected ways,” the FSB said.