LONDON (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence does not have the human judgment capabilities needed to set interest rates, the head of the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Monday.
But AI could make it easier for criminals to launch cyberattacks, said Chia Der Jiun, chief executive of Singapore’s central bank.
He said AI was being used in some business models and areas such as fraud detection, but stressed it was not at a stage where it could “supersede human judgment”.
“It takes a lot of judgment to understand and have a view on the evolution of inflation… (and) “the transmission of monetary policy,” Chia said at a Bank of Settlements roundtable. international conferences on the use of AI.
“Maybe there will come a day when we can blame AI for monetary policy mistakes,” he joked. “But if a human has to take responsibility, then he or she will have to make the judgment.”
Chia, who took over as head of MAS earlier this year, also warned that the main risk was that AI would be used by cybercriminals.
“Another dimension that isn’t talked about much is that AI has the potential to democratize — not in a good way — but to democratize access to malware,” Chia said.
There are already tools available online, he explained, “aimed at people whose technical skills are not too sophisticated” for launching cyberattacks. “It’s a space we need to monitor.”
(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by David Gregorio)
