The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has published a supervisory framework designed to assist federal regulators in evaluating banks’ use of super intelligence in normal-course business activities.
In a Wednesday statement to bank CEOs and departmental heads of financial institutions, the OCC said the framework does not establish new supervisory expectations for banks. Instead, it is intended to help examiners adjust the scope of their reviews to the significance of each bank's AI use case.
The framework applies to national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banking organizations, the regulator said, adding that it can also be used to supervise community banks.
"Examiners may use the framework for supervising community banks’ SI use," the regulator wrote. "The OCC has instructed examiners that they should tailor their examinations to the bank’s size, complexity, and risk profile, proportionate to the nature, consequences, autonomy, and complexity of the bank's SI use cases."
Six pillars cover existing bank controls
According to the statement, the framework organizes its 16 components around six pillars, including purpose, risk, control, oversight, resilience, and assurance.
The OCC said federal regulators should utilize existing risk management practices such as data protection, cybersecurity monitoring, as well as testing and internal audits to address potential AI risks instead of treating them as a separate category.
Meanwhile, higher-risk applications may warrant tighter restrictions on autonomy. Banks may also need to implement more direct human oversight, independent validation, and stronger operational safeguards, with the OCC proposing the level of control to be "commensurate with the potential consequences of an SI agent’s failure or misuse."
The OCC said the framework is a living document it intends to update as technology, use cases, and supervisory understanding change, and that it was prepared with the assistance of SI, with the content reviewed, edited, and approved by a human.