SEC’s Quiet AI Revolution: Public companies should brace for more commission scrutiny
As artificial intelligence reshapes the business landscape, the SEC is gearing up for a new era of oversight. With a handful of cases already on the books and warnings from top officials, the message is clear: AI isn’t just disrupting industries — it’s disrupting regulatory enforcement. From startup pitches to shareholder meetings, Wolters Kluwer’s Mark S. Nelson unpacks the SEC’s sharpening focus on AI. March 2024 marked the dawn of the SEC’s awakening to the myriad enforcement issues the agency can pursue regarding artificial intelligence (AI) . The SEC has brought a small number of enforcement cases thus far. The question is whether this is the beginning of a selective process to pursue the worst bad actors or the beginning of a torrent of enforcement. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has warned of AI enforcement risk, and Gurbir Grewal, recently departed enforcement head, also spoke of this risk: “While perhaps not quite yet a perfect storm, there’s ce...