World's central banks are wary of AI and struggling to quit the dollar, survey shows

By Libby George

LONDON (Reuters) -Artificial Intelligence is not a core part of operations at most of the world's central banks and digital assets are off the table, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum.

The working group of 10 central banks from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia managing roughly $6.5 trillion in assets also found that the institutions that have delved deepest so far into AI are the most cautious about the risks.

The primary concern is that AI-driven behaviour could "accelerate future crises," the survey showed.

"AI helps us see more, but decisions must remain with people," one participant was quoted as saying in the group's report.

More than 60% of respondents said that AI tools - which have sparked layoffs already at technology companies and retail and investment banks - are not yet supporting core operations.?

"Most early applications centred on routine analytical tasks rather than risk management or portfolio construction," the report found.

In contrast, most central banks are using AI mainly for basic work, such as summarising data or scanning markets.?

The vast majority of the banks, 93%, also do not invest in digital assets, according to the survey, which found that "tokenisation is viewed with interest and cryptocurrencies with caution."

The group included six banks from G20 countries and two from the G7.

The survey revealed that banks view the world as hurtling toward a multipolar system - sparking a desire to diversify, but also focus on resilience and liquidity, which narrows the reserves they will consider.?

While nearly 60% want to diversify away from the dollar, the unmatched liquidity of U.S. Treasuries kept the U.S. currency anchored.

"We are moving from a bipolar to a multipolar reserve system, but the euro is not ready yet to lead," one working group participant was quoted as saying in the survey.?

The dollar's status as the world's top reserve currency has been called into question this year given U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies and concern about Federal Reserve independence. The euro and China's yuan are expected to benefit, but the dollar is expected to remain the dominant currency in foreign exchange reserves.

(Reporting by Libby George, editing by Karin Strohecker and Tomasz Janowski)