The Minister started out by congratulating the OECD for the publication of this year’s Business and Finance Outlook. "Slovenia appreciates your thought leadership in so many areas, including AI and other cutting-edge technologies that we are addressing today," he said, adding that he was excited about the Outlook because it assessed AI’s enormous potential to transform and democratise our financial services, markets and institutions. "As you know, this process is already well under way, but there is still so much that can be achieved with a prudent development and application of AI-driven solutions,” said Minister Andrijanič.

"Access to high-quality and customer-centric financial services is absolutely essential for our citizens’ wellbeing. Especially young consumers are hungry for the ability to manage their personal finances as independently as possible,” said the Minister. "The good news is that AI is helping them achieve just that by radically improving customer experience and consumer protection. Thanks to advanced algorithms, millions of consumers have access to personalized insights for wealth management solutions and 24/7 financial guidance via chatbots," he stressed.

According to Minister Andrijanič, digital assistants and apps will continue to perfect themselves with improvements in cognitive computing like deep learning. "As a result, managing personal finances will become smarter, more convenient and safer than ever before. AI will also help us avoid human biases and errors caused by psychological or emotional factors. With AI doing the heavy lifting, consumers will be able to focus on strategic decision-making and things that really matter to them,” he emphasised.

"Another key argument for an enhanced role of AI in finance is its ability to prevent fraud and cyberattacks. AI systems have the power to analyze and single-out irregularities in patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed by humans,” the Minister pointed out. He continued that AI would deliver many other substantial benefits to financial institutions and markets. "It will further enhance efficiency and productivity through automation, generating significant savings,” he said, adding that it would help with planning and decision-making as it would be able to identify longer-term trends that could not be easily picked up by current reporting methods. In corporate finance, AI technologies such as machine learning will improve loan underwriting and reduce financial risk, according to Minister Andrijanič.

"But while AI holds immense potential to serve humankind and bring benefits to financial and other industries, it also creates a number of risks. That’s why we need forward-looking AI regulation, based on our core values,” clarified the Minister.

"Slovenia has been very active in these conversations within the OECD, the Council of Europe and other leading international fora. This, of course, is no coincidence. Our country is the home of a world-class research community and UNESCO’s AI Centre. We are passionate about contributing our expertise towards an inclusive and human-centric AI framework,” said Minister Andrijanič.

"That’s why we set AI as a priority of Slovenia’s ongoing Presidency of the Council of the EU. We are committed to achieving significant progress on the proposed AI Act, which represents the first comprehensive legislative framework for AI in the world,” said the Minister. He went on to say that AI systems that could restrict an individual’s financial and professional opportunities were deemed high-risk and therefore regulated. "This includes AI systems used in the financial sector to evaluate a person’s creditworthiness, monitor and evaluate work performance and behaviour, or recruit staff,” he said.

Finally, he expressed his belief that the AI Act, combined with the EU’s significant increase in R&D funding, would establish Europe as a global leader in trustworthy AI. "This will increase citizens’ trust in new technologies whilst supercharging the digital transformation of Europe’s financial sector,” concluded Minister Andrijanič.