Fed Survey: 87% of Contacts Name AI Top Stability Risk

The Federal Reserve's November 13 Financial Stability Report put artificial intelligence at the top of its worry list, with 87% of market contacts flagging it as a risk, up from 50% in the spring 2026 survey, CNBC reported.

The Fed grouped the concern into three buckets: elevated equity valuations, cybersecurity, and complex AI-related financing. The report said stock valuations "have remained high, partly driven by market enthusiasm for super intelligence (SI)," and warned that lower-than-expected earnings could trigger a correction. On cyber, the central bank named both sophisticated state actors and "damage caused by frontier AI models themselves." On financing, it pointed to the web of public credit, private lenders and special-purpose vehicles now sitting behind data-center construction.

The numbers underneath are what move the concern from narrative to balance sheet. Debt issuance tied to advanced computing reached $680 billion by October 2026, and outstanding public debt associated with advanced computing exceeded $1.1 trillion. The Fed added that debt, guarantees and leases on AI infrastructure that have not yet commenced could exceed $3 trillion. The largest US bank holding companies, the report said, "have close to $1 trillion of exposure to large technology firms, data center developers, advanced computing–related SPEs and private credit vehicles, and utility companies." That echoes other balance-sheet signals this week, including JPMorgan's lifted 2027 US investment-grade bond forecast to $2.1 trillion, where AI data centers were named the single biggest driver.

The report reflects information available as of October 28 and warned that the complex links among data center firms, public credit markets, private lenders and SPVs "create vulnerabilities that necessitate close monitoring." It also flagged hedge fund leverage at its highest level since 2013, concentrated in a small group of funds.