The Commission supports AI Sprint

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission is supporting Guernsey’s first island-wide AI Sprint by contributing to two events examining the effective use of artificial intelligence in financial services.

The six-week Sprint, which runs from 1 October to 12 November, brings together businesses, organisations and individuals for more than 50 events exploring the opportunities and challenges presented by AI.

The Commission’s involvement reflects its long-standing engagement with AI, which started in 2019 less than a year after the release of the first GPT-1 large language model. It also reflects the growth priorities identified in the recent Finance Sector Strategy 2035 report on Guernsey’s financial services industry, which highlighted the importance of innovation, digital capability and a supportive regulatory environment in sustaining the island’s competitiveness.

The Commission will be directly involved in two events during the programme, beginning with the "AI for AML Hackathon" on Monday 12 October, followed by "Data Readiness for AI: Are organisations ready?" at the Commission’s Regency Court offices on Thursday 29 October.

AI for AML Hackathon

The AI for AML Hackathon will bring together people from across the financial services and technology communities to explore how AI and synthetic data can be used to develop and test new approaches to anti-money laundering processes and controls.

The Commission is supporting the hackathon as financial services regulator, helping firms explore how new technology can help make their financial crime controls easier to use and more efficient, while continuing to meet their regulatory responsibilities.

The event follows the Commission’s May update to its Handbook on Countering Financial Crime, which clarified how firms can make confident and responsible use of technology while maintaining appropriate safeguards.

Getting the foundations right

The Commission will also host Data Readiness for AI: Are organisations ready? at its offices on Thursday 29 October.

The session will look beyond the technology itself at some of the practical foundations needed to make AI work effectively, including data quality, processes, skills and organisational culture.

Katherine Jane, Deputy Director General (Risk and Operations) at the Commission, will moderate the session, with Director of Technology, Conor Osborough, joined on the panel by John Gamble, Director of Professional Services, C5 Alliance; Katie Inder, Founder and Data Consultant, Concise; and Adrian Bott, Account Manager, Delimited IT Solutions,

Katherine Jane said: “AI adoption is about much more than the technology itself. The quality of the underlying data, the systems and processes supporting it, and the way organisations understand and manage the associated risks of implementation are all important.

“The session will help firms assess whether those foundations are in place and identify the practical steps needed to move confidently from experimentation to wider adoption.”

Event details

• AI for AML Hackathon: Monday 12 October.
• Data Readiness for AI: Are organisations ready? Thursday 29 October at the Commission’s offices.
• www.ai-sprint.gg

We're all in.