Artificial Intelligence and EU Insider Regulation

The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in capital markets poses new challenges for the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), which was initially designed for human decision-making and automated trading systems. As the rise of AI makes it possible to trade autonomously through self-learning algorithms, legal uncertainty arises regarding the attribution of inside information, responsibility for AI-driven transactions, and the scope of the insider trading prohibition under Art. 8 MAR.

This article examines whether and to what extent such autonomous insider trading is covered by existing law and explores the role of Art. 9 para. 1 MAR, focusing on the possibility of a teleological extension and analogy to establish a “compliance by design” defence for both legal and natural persons using AI. The paper further addresses the use of AI in fulfilling issuers’ public disclosure obligation under Art. 17 MAR, particularly in identifying inside information and responding to deepfakes. Finally, it considers how enforcement tools and organisational duties under MiFID II and MAR may need to be adapted to ensure informational fairness in the context of autonomous trading systems.