UK financial regulators have warned banks looking to use artificial intelligence to approve loan applications that they can only deploy the technology if they can prove it will not worsen discrimination against minorities, who already struggle to borrow.
The watchdogs are increasingly pressing Britain’s biggest banks about the safeguards they are planning to put in place concerning the use of AI, according to several people familiar with the talks.
High street banks are exploring ways to automate more of their lending, including the use of AI and more advanced algorithms, to decide who to lend to based on historical data held on different types of borrowers, who can be grouped by categories such as postcodes and employment profiles.