Nederlandsche Bank comes with guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence

De Nederlandsche Bank has drawn up guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in the financial sector. In this way, DNB wants to make other institutions think about the possibilities and risks that AI entails.

The guidelines describe, among other things, which requirements artificial intelligence should meet if banks or other financial institutions use it. This mainly concerns solidity, responsibility, justice, ethics, expertise and openness. According to DNB, it is important that such aspects are already taken into account during the design phase, and that they are also checked regularly.

DNB itself says that solidity is the most important aspect. According to DNB, artificial intelligence should be reliable and accurate, act predictably and fall within regulations such as the GDPR. Liability is also important, says the institution. “Financial institutions should undeniably demonstrate that they understand their responsibilities around AI,” the report said. In doing so, the Bank refers to the responsibility of, for example, the Executive Board and the need to establish artificial intelligence supervisors.

The Bank wants to draw up the rules in part to maintain society’s confidence in financial institutions. That is why AI should also be ‘honest’, for example by having people still look at the results manually. Ethics is also an important part of the guidelines. This should be determined in advance, says DNB.

According to the agency, financial institutions are increasingly using artificial intelligence, both to improve internal business processes and to offer products to customers. This has many advantages, but the agency also warns about the risks: “Incidents with AI can damage a financial company and its customers, and that can have serious consequences for the reputation of the financial system as a whole.”

According to DNB, these are guidelines, not rules that the body imposes on banks and companies. DNB wants to enter into discussions with the financial sector in the coming period to discuss the guidelines. The institution will publish a report on this in the course of 2020.