Engagement Paper: Proposal for AI Live Testing

Read the Engagement Paper (PDF)[1]

Why we are consulting

We plan to launch AI Live Testing, as part of the existing AI Lab, to support the safe and responsible deployment of AI by firms and achieve positive outcomes for UK consumers and markets.

AI continues to evolve swiftly, requiring an agile approach. As part of AI Live Testing, our regulatory and technical teams will work directly with firms, providing tailored support as firms develop, assess and deploy live AI models in UK financial markets.

This will include exploring output-driven validation and other methods to evaluate the impact of AI model use in UK financial markets.  

Through AI Live Testing, firms will be able to live-test AI models to build confidence in their performance, while also receiving regulatory support and comfort to support safe and responsible deployment.

Who this is for

We are interested in views from all stakeholders, but would particularly encourage feedback from representatives of:

• chief information officers
• chief AI officers
• chief data officers
• AI solution providers

Next steps

Please respond by 10 June 2025.  

You can either:

• Submit the online form[2].
• Email [email protected].
• Write to: Advanced Analytics, Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN.

We welcome responses to the following questions:

1. What are the primary blockers that you encounter prior to live market deployment of AI models? Are these related to technical issues, AI model-related, governance, regulatory or other? Please provide details.  
2. In your opinion, would the FCA proposal for AI Live Testing address potential AI deployment challenges?
   Are there particular areas we should focus on as part of AI Live Testing? This could be either certain types of AI models, AI evaluation techniques, outcome assessment strategies or particular financial services sectors.
   Is there more we could do?
3. Is there any other feedback you would like to share with us?
   When providing feedback, please include as much detail as possible and provide evidence for your responses where possible to do so.  

Background

Our goal is to give firms the confidence to deploy AI systems in a way that drives growth and delivers positive outcomes for UK consumers and markets. We also want to work with industry to better understand potential AI risks and explore effective mitigation strategies, to support the FCA’s regulatory and supervisory approach to safe and responsible AI adoption in UK financial markets.

Our proposal for AI Live Testing supports the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan[3], published in January 2025. The AI Opportunities Action Plan aims to help drive UK economic growth and efficiency with 50 recommendations for how the UK can shape the future of AI.