A group of Democrats from the US House of Representatives sent a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. The lawmakers are concerned about the lack of oversight for AI agents executing trades on behalf of retail investors.
Bill Foster and Brad Sherman, the authors of the letter, believe that the operations of such services threaten market integrity. They argue that AI developers and brokers currently operate outside the legal framework, even though they make significant investment decisions for users.
“AI firms largely operate outside the securities regulatory framework. It is crucial that these technologies do not become tools for concealing conflicts of interest or market manipulation,” the lawmakers stated.
Their concerns have been heightened by the rising popularity of AI assistants in the crypto industry. In early June, Coinbase launched its own virtual assistant that provides trading advice. The authors of the letter emphasized that such platforms often disclaim responsibility for the accuracy of algorithmic predictions.
The congressmen requested that the SEC respond to several questions by July 31:
- What protective mechanisms are currently in place for AI agents?
- Under what circumstances are such bots required to register?
- Does the agency have sufficient authority to oversee the sector, or is Congressional intervention necessary?
It is worth noting that in June, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for stricter oversight of AI models.