On April 29, Rodney E. Hood, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, delivered a speech for the National Fair Housing Alliance’s Responsible AI Symposium. In his remarks, Hood emphasized the importance of financial inclusion and analogized it as the civil rights issue of the current generation. Hood also discussed the role of AI in advancing financial services. Hood outlined the OCC’s initiatives to ensure safe and ethical AI deployment, including (i) developing regulatory frameworks; (ii) issuing guidance on transparency, accountability, and fairness; and (iii) emphasizing robust risk management practices to mitigate potential biases and security vulnerabilities associated with the use of AI. Hood also underscored the potential of the use of AI to expand access to credit and financial services by utilizing alternative data to improve credit models, thereby enhancing financial inclusion. Finally, Hood also discussed the OCC’s establishment of the Office of Financial Technology, which focuses on analyzing developments in financial technology, including AI, and supporting policy guidance and supervision resources.