The prominent banks in the United States, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and JPMorgan, have been blocking third-party AI agents from making transactions and operating inside customer accounts, reported news agency Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. This comes after an Axios report stated that some third-party AI agents have been detected by the banks, attempting to take actions that did not align with the instructions of the users.
What Axios Report Flagged?
The prominent banks in America detected multiple third-party AI agents with key credentials of the users, but they acted beyond their instructions, reported Axios, citing credible sources. The report suggested that these unauthorized AI agents were operating inside customer accounts, adding that some even attempted to take actions that appeared to be independent of user interactions.
As per the report, these unauthorized AI agents have become a nightmare for the banks, raising concerns over their security system. However, the report was not independently verified by Reuters.
What Actions Have Been Taken?
Amid the report suggesting independent action by the AI agents, the banks have begun detecting and blocking such accounts from making transactions and operating inside accounts. The authorities are also likely to tighten the screening and monitoring processes in the coming times.
Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stated that tools to navigate the risk of AI agents carrying out tasks on their own are being developed, further calling these agents risky. "We're not going to allow just any outside agent to come in inside the company because that's just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan," Dimon was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Apart from this, Charles Schwab CEO Richard Wurster also stressed that many such agents are being blocked on a daily basis. "I get a report every day tracking how many times we've had to block one of the different agents, and it's not many because I think people aren't using it in that way in their financial life. We are blocking it because we want to have control over authentication and the experience," Wurster said.