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US banks scramble to restrict AI agent activity — agents detected accessing customer accounts or even attempting to make transactions in breach of policy Banks can't determine if AI agents are working under user instructions or going rogue. A new report claims that major U.S. banks have now detected AI agents accessing customer accounts, and that some are even attempting to make transactions. Axios reports that it’s hard to differentiate between an actual human and an unauthorized bot, which is why some institutions, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo, are blocking the technology and changing their terms of service to account for this. While an AI agent or AI assistant can access an account with a user’s permission and through the use of their login credentials, this often goes against bank policy that requires users to maintain control of their account and not share it with anyone else. One of the fears that executives have is when an AI agent with login access takes unauthorized steps, like spending money or moving funds around without the explicit instructions of the account owner. There have even been situations where an AI agent called the bank directly and took actions independent of direct user command. Even though it wasn’t explicitly told to do that transaction, it considered it a crucial step to accomplish the task assigned to it. One hypothetical example of this is when a user tells an AI agent to purchase an item but gives it a credit card with no available limit. The AI agent could then have accessed the user’s bank account to move some funds from whatever account it sees that has available funds to then effect the transaction, even if the user did not explicitly tell them that they could use the money in that said account. This is just one example where an AI agent’s transaction could go wrong, which is why several U.S. banks are now restricting third-party AI agents from accessing their platforms. Nevertheless, they still recognize that their customers might want to use tools like AI agents to monitor their finances. This is why some institutions have given or are moving towards read-only access for AI agents, which is something that they’ve been doing for years already. The move comes against a background of burgeoning AI agent use, coupled with the risk that agents can and often do act beyond their remit, making mistakes or performing tasks without instruction, often with disastrous results. An unsupervised AI agent recently deleted a TV show's entire edit weeks before broadcast, forcing the program off air. AI agents are notorious for deleting databases and directories, making it a small leap to imagine they cause some havoc with unfettered access to a bank account. Financial institutions have deep experience when it comes to employing new technology while ensuring that their critical infrastructure remains safe — something that AI labs lack, according to a former OpenAI safety employee. Despite that, banks are still concerned about the speed at which AI technology is developing, fearing that the technology’s capabilities might outrun their ability to control it, which is why they’re preparing for worst-case scenarios and even planning for “day after” scenarios after a catastrophic AI event. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. - rgd1101 should have a settings in the user account to block AI access. if the customer choose to allow it by signing a contract or something, it would be on the customer.Reply - rgd1101 I think it more cover their butt if customer ai went rouge or hack. like it is not fraud if you give your account login information to someone else and they took all your money. Reply - cknobman At my financial institution my account is guarded by a code word that must be spoken before any access or transactions. I wonder it that would be protected from an AI agent. I have no ATM or debit cards on my account you have to walk up to the counter and do things in person. Reply
US banks scramble to restrict AI agent activity — agents detected accessing customer accounts or even attempting to make transactions in breach of policy Banks can't determine if AI agents are working under user instructions or going rogue. A new report claims that major U.S. banks have now detected AI agents accessing customer accounts, and that some are even attempting to make transactions. Axios reports that it’s hard to differentiate between an actual human and an unauthorized bot, which is why some institutions, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo, are blocking the technology and changing their terms of service to account for this. While an AI agent or AI assistant can access an account with a user’s permission and through the use of their login credentials, this often goes against bank policy that requires users to maintain control of their account and not share it with anyone else. One of the fears that executives have is when an AI agent with login access takes unauthorized steps, like spending money or moving funds around without the explicit instructions of the account owner. There have even been situations where an AI agent called the bank directly and took actions independent of direct user command. Even though it wasn’t explicitly told to do that transaction, it considered it a crucial step to accomplish the task assigned to it. One hypothetical example of this is when a user tells an AI agent to purchase an item but gives it a credit card with no available limit. The AI agent could then have accessed the user’s bank account to move some funds from whatever account it sees that has available funds to then effect the transaction, even if the user did not explicitly tell them that they could use the money in that said account. This is just one example where an AI agent’s transaction could go wrong, which is why several U.S. banks are now restricting third-party AI agents from accessing their platforms. Nevertheless, they still recognize that their customers might want to use tools like AI agents to monitor their finances. This is why some institutions have given or are moving towards read-only access for AI agents, which is something that they’ve been doing for years already. The move comes against a background of burgeoning AI agent use, coupled with the risk that agents can and often do act beyond their remit, making mistakes or performing tasks without instruction, often with disastrous results. An unsupervised AI agent recently deleted a TV show's entire edit weeks before broadcast, forcing the program off air. AI agents are notorious for deleting databases and directories, making it a small leap to imagine they cause some havoc with unfettered access to a bank account. Financial institutions have deep experience when it comes to employing new technology while ensuring that their critical infrastructure remains safe — something that AI labs lack, according to a former OpenAI safety employee. Despite that, banks are still concerned about the speed at which AI technology is developing, fearing that the technology’s capabilities might outrun their ability to control it, which is why they’re preparing for worst-case scenarios and even planning for “day after” scenarios after a catastrophic AI event. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. - rgd1101 should have a settings in the user account to block AI access. if the customer choose to allow it by signing a contract or something, it would be on the customer.Reply - rgd1101 I think it more cover their butt if customer ai went rouge or hack. like it is not fraud if you give your account login information to someone else and they took all your money. Reply - cknobman At my financial institution my account is guarded by a code word that must be spoken before any access or transactions. I wonder it that would be protected from an AI agent. I have no ATM or debit cards on my account you have to walk up to the counter and do things in person. Reply - bit_user rgd1101 said:should have a settings in the user account to block AI access. if the customer choose to allow it by signing a contract or something, it would be on the customer.There might be laws in at least some jurisdictions that won't let banks off the hook that easily. Reply - bit_user cknobman said:I have no ATM or debit cards on my account you have to walk up to the counter and do things in person.Heh, sounds like a new use case for humanoid robots! ; ) Reply - rluker5 cknobman said:At my financial institution my account is guarded by a code word that must be spoken before any access or transactions. I wonder it that would be protected from an AI agent. I have no ATM or debit cards on my account you have to walk up to the counter and do things in person.If it is a checking account you may have echecks allowed. Those are way scarier than a debit card. Like paying with a credit card but easier, faster and more direct. I need to check out one of my accounts now. Reply - cknobman rluker5 said:If it is a checking account you may have echecks allowed. Those are way scarier than a debit card. Like paying with a credit card but easier, faster and more direct. I need to check out one of my accounts now.Time to make sure that is turned off! Reply - bit_user rluker5 said:If it is a checking account you may have echecks allowed. Those are way scarier than a debit card. Like paying with a credit card but easier, faster and more direct.This is why I don't setup automatic payments to any utilities. Somebody could hack into a payee and drain the accounts of everyone with automatic payments setup with them. Perhaps there are limits on how much an e-check can draw from an account. Might be worth looking into, if you use this method to pay any of your bills. Reply - BigNTall bit_user said:This is why I don't setup automatic payments to any utilities. Somebody could hack into a payee and drain the accounts of everyone with automatic payments setup with them. Perhaps there are limits on how much an e-check can draw from an account. Might be worth looking into, if you use this method to pay any of your bills.Isn't a credit card safer than allowing to directly take money from your bank account? Reply
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