The initiative, announced Monday (Aug. 4), is designed to promote responsible use of AI while enhancing innovation and efficiency in the SEC operations. Valerie Szczepanik, who has been named the SEC’s chief AI officer, will head the task force.

“Recognizing the transformative potential of AI, the SEC’s AI Task Force will accelerate AI integration to bolster the SEC’s mission,” the regulator said in a news release.

“It will centralize the agency’s efforts and enable internal cross-agency and cross-disciplinary collaboration to navigate the AI lifecycle, remove barriers to progress, focus on AI applications that maximize benefits, and maintain governance. The task force will support innovation from the SEC’s divisions and offices and facilitate responsible AI integration across the agency.”

Before being named the chief AI officer, Szczepanik directed the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology. She has also served as associate director in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance a Special Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, according to the release.

The announcement comes two weeks after the White House released a policy roadmap outlining President Trump’s push to keep America in the lead in the global AI race.

“America’s AI Action Plan” follows Trump’s executive order in January that ordered federal agencies to overturn AI regulations put in place by the Biden administration, which focused on oversight and risk mitigation.

“As our global competitors race to exploit these technologies, it is a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance,” Trump said in the opening of the AI action plan.

In other AI news, recent research by PYMNTS Intelligence finds that almost all chief product officers (CPOs) expect generative AI to reshape the way they work.

That research showed that nearly all product leaders say AI will streamline workflows within three years, compared to 70% last year. And more than 80% anticipate improvements in data security, compared to half of the CPOs surveyed last year.

“The shift over the past year among CPOs reflects a deeper change in institutional mindset. Gen AI is no longer experimental — it’s strategic,” PYMNTS wrote. “The pressure to deliver more with fewer resources has pushed firms to scale automation of routine, labor-intensive tasks, not just explore how that can be done.”

Experian Assistant for Model Risk Management is designed to help financial institutions better manage the complex credit and risk models they use to decide who gets a loan or how much credit someone should receive. The tool validates models faster and improves their auditability and transparency, according to a Thursday (July 31) press release.

The tool helps speed up the review process by using automation to create documents, check for errors and monitor model performance, helping organizations reduce mistakes and avoid regulatory fines. It can cut internal approval times by up to 70% by streamlining model documentation, the release said.

It is the latest tool to be integrated into Experian’s Ascend platform, which unifies data, analytics and decision tools in one place. Ascend combines Experian’s data with clients’ data to deliver AI-powered insights across the credit lifecycle to do things like fraud detection.

Last month, Experian added Mastercard’s identity verification and fraud prevention technology to the Ascend platform to bolster identity verification services for more than 1,800 Experian customers using Ascend to help them prevent fraud and cybercrime.

The tool is also Experian’s latest AI initiative after it launched its AI assistant in October. The assistant provides a deeper understanding of credit and fraud data at an accelerated pace while optimizing analytical models. It can reduce months of work into days, and in some cases, hours.

Experian said in the Thursday press release that the model risk management tool may help reduce regulatory risks since it will help companies comply with regulations in the United States and the United Kingdom, a process that normally requires a lot of internal paperwork, testing and reviews.

As financial institutions embrace generative AI, the risk management of their credit and risk models must meet regulatory guidelines such as SR 11-7 in the U.S. and SS1/23 in the U.K., the release said. Both aim to ensure models are accurate, well-documented and used responsibly.

SR 11-7 is guidance from the Federal Reserve that outlines expectations for how banks should manage the risks of using models in decision making, including model development, validation and oversight.

Similarly, SS1/23 is the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority’s supervisory statement that sets out expectations for how U.K. banks and insurers should govern and manage model risk, especially in light of increasing use of AI and machine learning.

Experian’s model risk management tool offers customizable, pre-defined templates, centralized model repositories and transparent internal workflow approvals to help financial institutions meet regulatory requirements, per the release.

“Manual documentation, siloed validations and limited performance model monitoring can increase risk and slow down model deployment,” Vijay Mehta, executive vice president of global solutions and analytics at Experian, said in the release. With this new tool, companies can “create, review and validate documentation quickly and at scale,” giving them a strategic advantage.

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Read more:

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The decision reflects shifting strategies among specialty retailers as they work to adapt to changes in women’s fast-fashion and evolving consumer behavior.

Maeve, known for its blend of classic silhouettes and modern flourishes, will now operate independently with dedicated storefronts and separate digital channels, including new social media accounts and editorial content platforms, according to a Monday (Aug. 4) press release. The brand is inclusive, spanning plus, petite, tall and adaptive options, which broaden its reach as the industry contends with demands for representation.

Maeve has nearly 2 million customers and was the most-searched brand on the Anthropologie website over the past year, the release said. It is also a driver of TikTok engagement. Several of the company’s most “hearted” items online are already from the Maeve label.

“Maeve has emerged as a true driver of growth within Anthropologie’s portfolio,” Anu Narayanan, president of women’s and home at Anthropologie Group, said in the release. “Its consistent performance, combined with our customers’ emotional connection to the brand, made this the right moment to evolve Maeve into a standalone identity.”

While many retailers have retreated from new brand creation, opting instead to consolidate or focus on core labels, Anthropologie’s move suggests confidence in cultivating sizable, engaged consumer communities around sub-brands.

Anthropologie is backing Maeve’s standalone debut with a comprehensive marketing campaign, including influencer-driven content, a new Substack, a launch event in New York, and a charitable partnership, per the release. The first Maeve brick-and-mortar store is set to open in Raleigh, North Carolina, in the fall.

The move comes as the apparel sector in the United States sees shoppers valuing not just price and selection, but brand story, inclusivity and digital experience. While the outcome remains to be seen, Anthropologie’s gamble on Maeve reflects a belief that consumers remain eager to embrace distinctive, thoughtfully curated fashion.