Banks are already bumping up against the limits of AI in lending decisions

While big tech companies might not face regulation of their artificial-intelligence efforts in the US, banks trying to use AI still have to contend with reams of industry-specific rules, including laws ensuring equal treatment of customers. According to Bank of America technology executive Hari Gopalkrishnan, that's a problem for banks interested in using deep learning, the technology responsible for the current AI boom. That's because the decisions made by deep learning can be difficult to interpret--the "why" behind everything the algorithm does is a bit of a mystery. In banking, "[w]e're not fans of lack of transparency and black boxes, where the answer is just'yes' or'no,'" Gopalkrishnan said at a company tech summit. "We want to understand how the decision is made, so that we can stand behind it and say that we're not disfavoring someone."