A new global survey of central banks has revealed a surprising slowdown in how deeply monetary authorities are willing to integrate artificial intelligence into their core systems, reinforcing just how cautious policymakers have become as AI driven decision making spreads across financial markets. While many institutions have been experimenting with AI tools for years, the report shows that most usage remains limited to lightweight tasks such as summarizing data, scanning markets or assisting with routine analysis. The working group, which represents trillions in global assets across Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, made clear that the more a central bank experiments with AI, the more sharply it feels the risks. Several respondents argued that automated decision loops could accelerate crises instead of preventing them, and the overall sentiment pointed toward a philosophy that AI may amplify vision but should never replace human judgment. The reluctance comes at a moment when AI powered trading systems, risk models and payment infrastructure are speeding ahead in the private sector, creating a growing contrast between the pace of innovation and the pace of public sector adoption.
The survey also showed that digital assets remain almost entirely off the table for central banks, with the overwhelming majority choosing not to hold them as reserves. While tokenization attracted interest as a technological concept, cryptocurrencies themselves were still viewed with substantial caution. The most striking part of the findings was the tension between a global desire to diversify reserve portfolios and the near total inability to meaningfully reduce dollar exposure. Nearly sixty percent of the group expressed a long term desire to shift away from the dollar as the global system evolves toward a more multipolar structure, yet the unmatched liquidity of U.S. Treasuries keeps them anchored. Even with geopolitical pressure, tariff disruptions and concerns over the Federal Reserve’s independence, the dollar remains the only reserve asset capable of absorbing large scale flows without destabilizing the system. Central banks appear caught in a long term transition between a world that is changing quickly and a reserve architecture that has not caught up.
The combination of AI caution and dollar dependence paints a picture of global policymakers navigating a future where innovation and stability collide more directly. Many participants said their primary mandate remains resilience, and that means adopting technology only when it strengthens liquidity, risk management and operational clarity. The euro and yuan are viewed as potential beneficiaries of long run diversification, but neither is positioned to replace the dollar in a way that satisfies liquidity requirements. The result is a global system slowly inching toward change while still relying on the same backbone that has defined international finance for decades. With AI becoming a competitive advantage for private markets and tokenized assets advancing at record speed, central banks are choosing a deliberate path that prioritizes oversight over acceleration. Today’s survey captures that delicate balance and signals how monetary authorities are preparing for a world that may be multipolar in theory but remains dollar shaped in practice.
