Fed's Waller says FRED will route Board data users to its platform as AI traffic surges
Governor Christopher Waller addressed FRED Con 2026 on how artificial intelligence is reshaping use of the Federal Reserve Economic Data platform. The speech covers FRED's history, new AI-related traffic patterns and risks, and a new tool for connecting AI agents to FRED data. Relevant for compliance and data governance teams tracking how central bank data infrastructure adapts to AI-driven retrieval.
- Governor Waller announced users seeking certain Federal Reserve Board data will soon be routed to FRED and its tools.
- FRED traffic is presently growing 150 percent a year, with most growth from AI agents and bots.
- About half of visits to FRED currently come from AI agents retrieving data rather than human users.
- The Fed has introduced the FRED MCP Connector, using the Model Context Protocol, to let users link AI agents of their choice to FRED data.
- FRED staff are working to link FRED with the FRASER archival library and the ALFRED historical data repository for AI inquiries.