BOK Chief Dismisses ChatGPT’s Analysis on Monetary Policy Decision

SEOUL: Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong expressed skepticism about the reliability of ChatGPT following its response to a query about the bank's recent monetary policy decision. According to Yonhap News Agency, Rhee's comments came during a legislative session where Rep. Chung Il-young of the Democratic Party questioned whether the role of BOK's board members could be supplanted by ChatGPT, citing their high salaries and perceived minimal impact. Rhee responded by detailing his own experience with ChatGPT, where the AI predicted that maintaining the current interest rate was the optimal choice. "I used ChatGPT in October regarding the Monetary Policy Committee, and it suggested that freezing the benchmark interest rate was the best option," Rhee explained to lawmakers. Despite the AI's advice, the Bank of Korea decided to reduce its key rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25 percent last week, a move aligned with market expectations but contrary to ChatGPT's recommendation. "However, given that we lowered interest rates, ChatGPT cannot be believed," Rhee stated, supporting the necessity and effectiveness of human judgment in the bank's decision-making process.