A top Bank of England official has called for optimism around artificial intelligence and said leveraging the tech is the “best pathway” to securing economic growth.
Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability at the central bank, said the UK needs to “think ahead” on the future use cases of AI for “how we might need to act now to be resilient about them”.
“What we’re focused on is how an increasingly autonomous financial system that’s operating at speed and scale might do things that we’re not expecting it to… that might be because AI is in the hands of bad actors or it might be that AI agents have gone rogue.”
But the central bank official, who is also tasked with overseeing payments innovation and fintech, added that “AI as a general purpose technology and then innovation has got to be our best pathway at getting growth”.
“We should be optimists about AI.. we’ve been talking a long time about how our economies need growth,” Breeden said.
The remarks – made in an interview with think tank Atlantic Council as part of the IMF-World Bank meetings in Thailand – follow major warnings from the Bank on AI risks.
Bank officials on the Financial Policy Committee – which includes Breeden and governor Andrew Bailey – have previously sounded off on the potential knock-on effects for stock markets following rapid AI growth.
Bailey has also called on the government to ramp up testing on frontier AI models before they are launched to the public after raising concerns around the “closed loop” nature of the world’s top tech tools.
Bank weighs up digital pound
Breeden also faced questions on Monday surrounding the Bank’s digital currency project, which is due to be updated on later this year.
The retail digital pound project – a joint venture with the Treasury – has sought to explore and design a retail central bank digital currency for the UK.
“When we started the project, more years ago than I care to say out loud, our focus was on trying to understand how these innovations could bring benefits for users of money… and also how we could completely ensure the singleness of money,” Breeden said.
A detailed blue print and joint evidence-based assessment are expected by the end of the year that will decide whether to move forward. Earlier this year, the European Central Bank announced the next steps for the digital euro, setting the stage for a launch in 2029.
While no decision has yet been reached on the UK project, Breeden suggested the central bank may not have to be “leading the way”.
She said whether stablecoins and commercial bank money could achieve the same benefits as a digital currency would be a crucial factor in decision making.
“If they are delivering the benefits and we have made sure their value is anchored then maybe we don’t need a digital pound so quickly”.