Financial regulators in the United States are widening their lens on artificial intelligence. On 23 October 2026 the Securities and Exchange Commission published its fiscal 2027 examination priorities, naming advanced AI technologies - referred to in the document as 'super intelligence' - as an area of supervisory attention across regulated firms. The Division of Examinations will assess how broker-dealers and advisers use AI in investment analysis, customer management, fraud prevention, anti-money-laundering compliance and trading functions. It will also scrutinise the threats that AI enables, such as AI-generated phishing messages and synthetic voice or video used in social-engineering attacks. The move signals a shift from voluntary guidance to active oversight of AI in finance, running in parallel with the European Union's emerging AI Act enforcement and reinforcing a global trend toward concrete supervision of deployed models.
Source: AI Governance Brief (SEC fiscal 2027 examination priorities); Digital Commonwealth Institute.
