SEC Director Encourages AI Innovation And Industry Dialogue: "Every Idea Will Be Heard"

In a February 3, 2026 speech to the Investment Company Institute's Winter Board Meeting, Brian Daly, Director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management, requested industry comment on how the use of artificial intelligence solutions should be addressed by the federal securities laws and processes.

Daly started off by pointing to how little progress has been made in modernizing existing technology rules. Quoting from a 2005 speech by former SEC General Counsel Giovanni Prezioso, he highlighted questions that still resonate today (e.g., whether posting to the web satisfies delivery obligations, whether emails count as regulatory "correspondence," and whether electronic storage satisfies recordkeeping rules). Two decades later, Daly acknowledged that "we are literally looking at a lost generation of limited progress," noting that the SEC has yet to adopt a comprehensive e-delivery rule and confusion remains over the Books and Records Rule.¹