# Cipollone speech: 'Artificial intelligence: a central bank's view' (July 2024): Artificial intelligence: a central bank's view — speech by Piero Cipollone

Source: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-cipollone-ai-central-bank-view-2024
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026

On 4 July 2024 ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone gave 'Artificial intelligence: a central bank's view' at the National Conference of Statistics in Rome. He described how the ECB uses AI in statistics, nowcasting, translation (about 6 million pages a year) and market-infrastructure oversight, and warned that widespread AI adoption in finance could heighten herd behaviour, market correlation, deception and manipulation, with concentrated suppliers creating operational vulnerabilities. Estimates of AI productivity gains cited ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 percentage points a year, and he insisted human oversight remain central to avoid AI 'echo chambers'.

## At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Authority | [ECB](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/ecb) |
| Type | Speech |
| Status | Final |
| Published | Jul 4, 2024 |
| Applies to | No obligations; sets out the ECB Executive Board's view on AI in central banking and financial stability. |
| Official text | https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2024/html/ecb.sp240704_1~e348c05894.en.html |

## Key points

- Describes ECB internal AI use: data quality, unstructured and satellite data, real-time inflation nowcasting, translation of roughly 6 million pages annually
- Financial-stability risks: supplier concentration, algorithmic herding, market correlation, deception and manipulation
- Productivity impact uncertain: cited estimates from 0.1 to 1.5 percentage points per year
- Warns market concentration among dominant tech firms may block broad-based gains
- Human oversight must remain central; risk of 'echo chamber' when AI trains on AI-generated data

## What changed for banks

It set the ECB-wide (not just SSM) tone that AI is welcome in central-bank operations but that human judgement and supplier diversity are non-negotiable — a line supervisors have repeated in every AI speech since.

## Use cases it governs

- [AI governance (general)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/by-use-case#governance-general)
- [Trading & capital markets](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/by-use-case#trading-markets)
- [Third-party & vendor AI](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/by-use-case#third-party-vendors)

## FAQ

### How does the ECB itself use AI?

Per Cipollone's July 2024 speech: statistics and data quality, nowcasting, translation of about 6 million pages a year, communication, and market-infrastructure oversight, always with human oversight.

## Related documents

- [ECB 'Dear CEO' letter on AI-enabled cybersecurity threats (SSM-2026-0301)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-letter-ai-enabled-cybersecurity-threats-2026) — Addressing AI-enabled cybersecurity threats — letter from the Chair of the Supervisory Board to CEOs of significant institutions (Jul 7, 2026)
- [Elderson speech: 'Strengthening operational resilience for the age of AI' (June 2026)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-elderson-operational-resilience-age-of-ai-speech-2026) — Strengthening operational resilience for the age of AI — speech by Frank Elderson (Jun 3, 2026)
- [Machado speech: 'Technology is neutral, governance is not' (Feb 2026)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-machado-technology-neutral-governance-speech-2026) — Technology is neutral, governance is not: AI adoption in the banking sector — speech by Pedro Machado (Feb 24, 2026)
- [Montagner speech: 'Encouraging innovation, managing risks' (Feb 2026)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-montagner-digital-transformation-speech-2026) — Encouraging innovation, managing risks: the ECB's approach to digital transformation — speech by Patrick Montagner (Feb 3, 2026)
- [Supervision Newsletter: AI use cases for credit scoring and fraud detection (Nov 2025)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-supervision-newsletter-ai-credit-scoring-fraud-2025) — AI's impact on banking: use cases for credit scoring and fraud detection (Supervision Newsletter, November 2025) (Nov 20, 2025)
- [SSM supervisory priorities 2026–28](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-ssm-supervisory-priorities-2026-28) — ECB Banking Supervision: SSM supervisory priorities for 2026–28 (Nov 18, 2025)
- [Machado speech: 'Artificial intelligence and supervision: innovation with caution' (Oct 2025)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-machado-ai-and-supervision-speech-2025) — Artificial intelligence and supervision: innovation with caution — speech by Pedro Machado (Oct 14, 2025)
- [ECB Guide to internal models (July 2025, ML section)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/ecb-guide-to-internal-models-2025-machine-learning) — Revised ECB Guide to internal models — expectations for machine-learning techniques in internal models (Jul 28, 2025)

Last reviewed Aug 26, 2026. Cite the official text (https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2024/html/ecb.sp240704_1~e348c05894.en.html) for the rule and this page for the summary and dates.

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