The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is examining artificial intelligence companies’ investor disclosures, its enforcement chief told Reuters, as inaccurate statements about business risks could prompt agency action.
David Woodcock, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, made the comments in an interview Reuters published Oct. 30. He said the agency’s central concern was whether companies provide accurate information about matters important to investors. “Our principal concern is that people are making accurate disclosures about material information,” Woodcock said.
Reuters did not identify any companies, filings or deals being examined. It placed the interview against investor worries about an AI bubble and circular deals, but did not connect a specific transaction to SEC scrutiny.
Woodcock also said AI and superintelligence could make scams cheaper to create and easier to produce at scale, Reuters reported. He said brokers and other financial firms need procedures to protect retail investors.
In June 2024, SEC corporate finance staff said existing disclosure requirements could apply to material information about AI. Staff said it would consider whether disclosures reflected each company’s own risks and impacts, described AI uses that were planned or underway, and had a reasonable basis for claims about AI’s prospects. The staff statement said it created no new Commission obligations and was not a Commission rule.
On Dec. 4, 2025, the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee approved a recommendation to the Commission that issuers define AI and disclose board oversight. It also called for separate reporting on AI’s effects on internal operations and consumer-facing matters when material. The committee described disclosure practices as uneven and said clearer information could help investors make informed decisions; its recommendation was not a Commission rule.
An earlier SEC enforcement case involved investment advisers’ statements about their own AI use. In 2024, Delphia (USA) Inc. and Global Predictions Inc. settled charges over false or misleading claims about that use and agreed to pay $400,000 in total civil penalties.
