House Financial Services Committee forms AI working group

The House Financial Services Committee has formed a bipartisan working group focused on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the financial services and housing industries, the top lawmakers on the panel announced Tuesday.

The AI working group will “explore this technology’s potential, specifically its adoption in our financial system” and ways to use it to “foster a more inclusive financial system,” while also establishing the country as a world leader on AI, Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said in a statement.

“The rapid advance of artificial intelligence technology holds immense promise to transform society and our economy for the better, but it also comes with risks,” McHenry added.

The bipartisan group, which is a continuation of earlier AI task forces in previous Congresses, will be led by the chairman and ranking member of the Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion Subcommittee — Reps. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.).

“I am pleased that Chairman McHenry is creating a new bipartisan Working Group on Artificial Intelligence, allowing us to explore AI’s potential in the financial system while also ensuring that the United States is a leader in this technology,” Hill said in a statement. 

Amid growing warnings about the potential impacts of the technology, Lynch said he looks forward to working with his colleagues to “better ensure that we are advancing responsible A.I. innovation in a manner that maximizes consumer safety and security, data privacy, and financial equity and safeguards the stability of our financial system.”

“The evolving application of A.I. technologies must be paralleled by robust federal oversight and a regulatory framework that is adaptive to innovation and equipped to identify potential risks to American consumers,” he added.