On 27 March 2025, at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence in the Financial Industry, held in Washington D.C., US SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce delivered a speech on the fast-evolving role of AI in finance. Commissioner Peirce, beginning with a warm thanks to the staff of the US SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis and fellow organisers, as well as the diverse panel of experts participating in the roundtable. The industry, she stated, has a long history of welcoming disruptive tools, from the stock ticker to terminals, and now faces the exciting, if complex, challenge of integrating artificial intelligence. The question, she implied, is not whether AI belongs in finance, but how we choose to understand and shape its presence.
With a deliberate caution against alarmist rhetoric, US SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce criticised what she termed “artificial fears” around AI, drawing a clear line between legitimate regulatory oversight and reactionary policy. Referring specifically to the Commission’s attempt to regulate predictive data analytics, she questioned the wisdom of broad, clumsy proposals that address AI as a monolith, rather than assessing its varied uses and potential risks on a case-by-case basis. Her message was clear: before writing new rules, the regulator must first understand the problem it’s trying to solve and ensure that a regulatory solution is indeed necessary.
In a moment of relatable levity, Commissioner Peirce shared a story about a friend’s four-year-old twins, describing their boundless capacity to learn, adapt, and surprise. “Sounds like AI, only better,” she quipped. Looking ahead, she posed a set of thoughtful, open-ended questions to the panellists: Which areas of finance are most likely to be transformed by AI in the next five years? Do firms require guidance from the US SEC, and if so, how should that guidance be delivered without becoming obsolete? How can regulation remain technology-neutral and avoid being defined by extreme or isolated misuses of AI?
Commissioner Peirce’s remarks were not merely about AI, they were about humility, curiosity, and the power of regulatory restraint. She championed the idea that effective regulation stems not from fear, but from understanding.
(Source: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-remarks-ai-roundtable-032725)
