The commissioner also addressed the growing use of artificial intelligence in broking during the Q&A with MFAA chief executive Anja Pannek (pictured, above, with Kirkland), telling delegates that existing obligations – including BID and licensees’ risk management requirements – apply regardless of whether a broker uses AI tools to support recommendations. “You can’t outsource your core obligations to an AI tool,” Kirkland said, urging brokers to understand exactly how any AI system they use generates its outputs.
Pannek used the fireside chat to reinforce the association’s own referrer working group, established to address fraud risk across the broker channel, and said the industry could not “rest on our laurels” given the scrutiny the sector was under.
Closing his address, Kirkland said the principles underpinning the duty were straightforward even if the law was complex. “Knowing and understanding your customers, putting their needs before yours, taking a genuine interest in the quality of your work, dealing appropriately with complaints and reporting misconduct where you see it,” he said. “Adhering to those principles won’t just help you to comply with the law – it also helps us to do our job.”
Drawing inspiration from Marvel icon Spiderman, “with power comes responsibility”, Kirkland reminded brokers in attendance.