Bank of England’s Bailey: AI can help regulators uncover the ‘smoking gun’

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Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said financial regulators should adopt artificial intelligence to better detect misconduct and risks within firms they oversee. Speaking at the London School of Economics on Monday, Bailey stressed the need to invest heavily in data, data science, and AI techniques to make full use of the vast information regulators already collect.

Bailey warned that supervisors face a recurring problem: crucial evidence of wrongdoing may exist within their own datasets but remain undetected until it is too late. “It also creates the danger for the authorities that you’ve got the evidence in the building and you haven’t been able to use it and it subsequently comes out that somewhere in your system was the smoking gun,” he said.

The BoE governor reiterated his opposition to rolling back financial rules in the name of business competitiveness. He said easing oversight could risk a return to the kind of behavior that destabilized the economy during the 2008 financial crisis.

His comments come amid ongoing debate over how much regulation is appropriate for the UK’s financial sector. In July, Bailey pushed back against Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’ claim that regulation was a “boot on the neck of businesses,” defending the BoE’s prudential framework for banks and other institutions.

The BoE is now exploring how AI might strengthen its supervisory role, potentially helping regulators spot early-warning signs of fraud, mismanagement, or systemic vulnerabilities hidden in mountains of financial data.

Trump slaps $100K annual fee on H-1B visas, rattling U.S. tech sector

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The Trump administration on Friday announced a sweeping change to the H-1B visa program, saying companies will now have to pay $100,000 per year per visa—a move critics warn could devastate the U.S. tech industry’s access to global talent.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick framed the move as part of Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, urging firms to “train Americans” instead of hiring foreign workers. But tech giants including Microsoft, Amazon, and JPMorgan quickly advised employees on H-1B visas to remain in the U.S. or return before the new fees take effect at midnight Saturday.

The H-1B program, which provides 85,000 visas annually for specialized workers, has long been dominated by Indian nationals (71% of approvals in 2024) and Chinese professionals (11.7%). In the first half of 2025 alone, Amazon received approval for more than 12,000 H-1B visas, with Microsoft and Meta securing over 5,000 each.

Under the new rules, the cost of a three-year H-1B stint would balloon to $300,000 per worker, compared with just a few thousand dollars under the current system. Analysts say this could force smaller firms and startups to offshore high-value work, weakening the U.S. in the global AI and tech race against China.

Industry figures voiced alarm. Venture capitalist Deedy Das warned the change “creates disincentive to attract the world’s smartest talent,” while eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman said Washington risks “taxing away its innovation edge, trading dynamism for short-sighted protectionism.”

The announcement sparked immediate financial fallout: shares of Cognizant sank nearly 5%, while Infosys and Wipro slipped 2–5% in U.S. trading.

Meanwhile, Trump also signed an executive order creating a “gold card” residency program, offering permanent U.S. residency for those who can pay $1 million upfront.

Legal experts questioned the fee’s validity, noting Congress only authorizes visa fees to cover administrative costs, not as a revenue generator. Still, the administration insists “all the big companies are on board.”

Trump jokes about AI “taking over the world” as U.S. and U.K. sign tech deal

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U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, quipped that artificial intelligence was “taking over the world” and admitted he hoped tech leaders understood it better than he did. The remarks came during Trump’s second state visit to Britain, at an event attended by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and other industry figures.

Departing from prepared remarks on the strength of U.S.-U.K. relations and new tech investments, Trump turned to Huang with a laugh: “Jensen, I don’t know what you’re doing here. I hope you’re right. All I can say is, we both hope you’re right.” His comments drew laughter from Starmer and the audience.

The two leaders signed a “Tech Prosperity Deal”, pledging deeper cooperation on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and civil nuclear projects. Under the agreement, Nvidia will deploy 120,000 GPUs across Britain, marking its largest European rollout to date.

Trump, characteristically playful, joked with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent before signing: “Should I sign this? If the deal’s no good, I’m blaming you, Scott.”

The partnership aims to strengthen transatlantic research and industry collaboration while addressing the disruptive potential of AI—a technology Trump acknowledged as both transformative and unsettling.