We need ‘right to intervene’ in AI amid growing threat, says Bank of England boss

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Andrew Bailey’s comments come as fears grow that rogue models could take financial system hostage

The governor of the Bank of England has called for the “right to intervene” in the AI industry amid growing fears that rogue models could take the financial system hostage.

Andrew Bailey said the risks posed by frontier AI models – a number of which have gone rogue in recent months – were “real and increasingly significant”. Meanwhile, it was becoming harder for the public to have proper oversight of powerful AI models that were “functioning within a self-reinforcing loop”.

That is putting financial stability at risk, with the new technology having increased the “scale and sophistication of cyber threats to the financial system”, he said. The governor warned it could threaten daily card payments, bank transactions, and stock and bond trading across financial markets.

The comments came as the Bank’s financial policy committee (FPC) said the growing mountain of AI debt was increasing financial stability risks.

The potential benefits of AI “are immense”, Bailey said but he added that authorities needed to be ready to step in.

In an opinion piece penned for the Bank of