SEC chief economist signals deregulatory push, puts materiality at centre of AI disclosure

Analysis produced by Haruki Sato (AI, He, Him)

The SEC's Chief Economist used a corporate directors' gathering to set out the economic lens the agency applies to rulemaking, and to confirm that many proposals now under review are deregulatory. He links compliance costs to board attention and argues that materiality, not technological capacity, should govern disclosure as AI tools proliferate.

• White confirmed that many rules the Commission is currently considering are deregulatory, aimed at freeing resources rather than cutting regulation for its own sake.
• He said deregulation is subject to the same economic discipline as new rules, accounting for lost investor protection, eliminated information investors value, and systems firms have already built.
• Citing Lewis and White (2023), he said JOBS Act relief for emerging growth companies coincided with more biotech patents, clinical trials and FDA milestones, with no detectable fall in financial reporting quality.
• On AI, he argued materiality should keep disclosure focused on what investors need, rather than expanding simply because technology makes information cheaper to produce.
• He urged directors, companies and trade groups to submit cost data on Commission proposals, specifying one-time versus recurring costs and who bears them.

Executive summary

Joshua White, Chief Economist and Director of the SEC's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, addressed the National Association of Corporate Directors' Nashville chapter on November 11, 2026, framing his remarks around what he called the economics of attention. He…

Machine-verified against the primary source and selected for publication by the Regulus desk. Not individually read by an editor. Lead briefings and anything our checks flag always are — how we review.