In an ambitious vision of the future, Xie Ping, former director of the research bureau at the People's Bank of China, suggested that artificial intelligence (AI) technology could substitute for financial regulation in a speech at a recent financial research forum.
Speaking at the 2017 China Finance Society Annual Conference, Xie noted that human personnel have trouble handling large volumes of data, but that this wouldn't be a problem with AI.
Xie also argued that AI would be untroubled by human complications such as feelings, culture, or politics, and so would be far more efficient. The use of AI to handle financial regulation would be more efficient than humans, Xie argued, so the financial system could be completely dependent on AI, even more so than other walks of life.
But Xie’s idea was opposed by Huang Haizhou, managing director of China International Capital Corporation Limited, and Hui Xiaofeng, a professor at Harbin Institute of Technology. Huang noted that there's a vast gulf between the financial regulation carried out by the central bank and the regular monitoring of markets, since the central bank must decide on macroscopic policies to adjust the market. They pointed out too that AI is not a magic bullet, but would be dependent on human policy and market adjustments, having to relearn its calculations each time the policy or the market changed. "Every time a new tool is applied, the AI will have to learn how to use this tool," Huang commented.
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