The growing influence of large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini on consumer financial choices is prompting calls for UK regulators to consider bringing such tools under formal supervision.

In an evaluation report commissioned by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and released on Monday, FCA Executive Director Sheldon Mills highlighted that corporate reliance on a small number of technology vendors could also pose system-wide risks.

Regulators globally are paying closer attention to the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), examining a range of issues from the cyber and operational risks posed by cutting-edge models like Anthropic's Mythos to the challenges presented by agentic systems capable of autonomous action with minimal human oversight.

Mills's assessment of AI's impact on the financial sector found that over a quarter of UK consumers trust the financial advice provided by tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini, yet they have limited awareness that the protections applicable to regulated financial services do not cover these AI offerings.

Mills recommended that the FCA, within the next three to six months, consider whether it needs to "solidify and adjust" the regulatory perimeter by reviewing the scale, nature, and impact of AI models currently operating outside its oversight.