Australia to use enhanced AI to police financial conduct
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will begin monitoring Bloomberg chats and social media posts, using artificial intelligence detection methods in a bid to crackdown on rogue market behaviour. Natural language algorithms will scan large amounts of data and conversations, with ASIC aiming for the tools to be utilised in the future to get big banks to monitor their own behaviour. The “regtech”, or regulatory tech, should help banks to cut the cost of complying with regulations.
Bloomberg chats and social media posts will be soon be monitored by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission as the corporate regulator prepares to use artificial intelligence to detect rogue market behaviour.

ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft said on Tuesday the corporate regulator was experimenting with a range of natural language algorithms – tools that allow computers to process and understand human languages – to scan large sets of data and conversations.

Mr Medcraft said he hoped the artificial intelligence tools would also allow big banks to police their own behaviour rather than delegating all the responsibility to ASIC.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft has warned "there's no way to hide". Dominic Lorrimer

"We would rather that the entities that we regulate focus on the [poor] conduct and have the right the tools to actually detect [the conduct]. And boards are concerned about having the right tools to detect and respond to poor conduct," Mr Medcraft told an American Chamber of Commerce event at law firm K & L Gates.

He said in the past, ASIC has used "fuzzy" word searching to scan large sets of data but was now experimenting with enhanced algorithms, which allow the corporate regulator to map the relationships of persons and entities and create timelines of events.