Fintechs must be careful about how they discuss AI when lobbying federal regulators in the wake of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order.  

The executive order, issued May 19, aims to accelerate fintech innovation by mandating that government agencies remove barriers and update regulations to help fintechs obtain charters and licenses and access the Federal Reserve System.  

Regulators were given 90 days to review existing policies, and fintechs could use that time to collaborate with them as tech providers become more ingrained in the federal financial ecosystem, Peter Dugas, founder and chief executive of Regulatory Intelligence Group, which helps FIs navigate regulations, told FinAi News.  

Dugas recommends lobbyists start out talking about the other issues addressed in the executive order and leave AI discussions for later.

While most fintechs are using AI to some degree, “I wouldn’t be leading the debate or the discussion around the artificial intelligence side of it” because “that creates even more risk,” Dugas said. 

“Look at concerns that have been raised regarding cybersecurity, and we’re not even talking about quantum computing yet,” he said.  

Essentially, fintechs could accidentally shift the focus to AI-specific risks rather than merits of fintech access, Dugas said.  

This is especially important given that the federal government has yet to pass any comprehensive AI governance laws, he said, also highlighting the “broad disagreement” between federal and state officials “on what actions should be taken.” 

“If you layer on top of changes to the financial services system and regulations around gaining access to, let’s say the payment system, and then you introduce the concerns over AI, that’s kind of a red herring,” Dugas said.  

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