Volatility and Risk Institute | Conferences

Seventh Annual Volatility and Risk Institute Conference

Artificial Intelligence and Risk Management

Friday, April 24, 2026

The Volatility and Risk Institute will hold our annual conference on Friday, April 24, 2026, on the topic of "Artificial Intelligence and Risk Management." The conference program and theme are below. The conference is free and open to the public, but please note that you must register in advance. We will be holding the conference in-person at 44 West 4th Street, New York, NY. If you are unable to attend in-person, you can register to watch the event via Zoom.

In-person registration

Zoom registration

Conference Agenda 

7:45am: Registration & Coffee

8:20am - 8:30am: Introduction: Richard Berner and Robert Engle, Co-Directors, Volatility and Risk Institute at NYU Stern

8:30am - 9:00am: Morning Keynote: Michael Hsu, former Acting Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Bold ideas, loosely held: Twelve big ideas for 2026

9:00am - 10:00am: AI Opportunities and Risks

• Vasant Dhar, NYU Stern, Moderator
• Melissa Koide, CEO & Director, FinRegLab, AI in Financial Services
• Andrea Bonime-Blanc, Founder & CEO, GEC Risk Advisory, Governing Pandora: Leading in the Age of Generative AI and Exponential Technology

10:00am - 10:15am: Break

10:15am - 11:45am: AI and Risk Management Tools

• Ilan Loebel, NYU Stern, Chair
• Petter Kolm, NYU Courant, Deep learning alpha signals from limit order books: practical insights and lessons learned (co-authored with Nicholas Westray)
• Marcos M Lopez De Prado (virtual), ADIA Lab, Causal Factor Investing Using AI
• William N. Goetzmann, Yale University and Office of Financial Research, Emotions and Subjective Crash Beliefs (co-authored with Dasol Kim, and Robert J. Shiller) and (Monitoring Markets with AI tools)

12:00pm - 1:30pm: Lunch

12:45pm - 1:15pm: Lunch Keynote: William Dudley, Chair, Bretton Woods Committee, Governing Artificial Intelligence Across the Global Financial System

1:45pm - 3:45pm: AI for Research

• Joao Sedoc, NYU, Chair
• Bryan Kelly, Frederick Frank ’54 and Mary C. Tanner Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management and Head of Machine Learning at AQR Capital Management, Large Language Models and Alternative Data
• Robert Richmond, NYU Stern, Asset Embeddings (co-authored with Xavier Gabaix, Ralph S.J. Koijen, Motohiro Yogo)
• Viral Acharya, NYU Stern, Inflation Uncertainty: Measurement, Causes, and Consequences (co-authored with Sebastian Hillenbrand, Venky Venkateswaran, and Margaret Underwood)
• Sophia Kazinnik, Stanford University, Bank Run, Interrupted: Modeling Deposit Withdrawals with Generative AI 

3:30pm - 3:45pm: Break

3:45pm - 4:15pm: AI Education

• Bill May, Managing Director, Global Head, Certification and Educational Programs, Global Association for Risk Professionals (GARP), GARP RAI Certificate Program

4:15pm - 4:45pm: New Tools for Risk Assessment in VLab with Robert Engle and Richard Berner

4:45 pm - 5:15pm: Fireside Chat with Philippe Aghion (virtual), Nobel Laureate. Kurt Björklund Chaired Professor in Innovation and Growth at INSEAD, a professor at Collège de France and visiting professor at the London School of Economics. Should We Fear AI?

5:30pm: Wine & cheese reception

Conference Theme

Artificial intelligence (AI) creates vast opportunities for reshaping business and the economy. It has the potential to enhance productivity, reduce costs, accelerate operations, and deliver significant benefits to consumers and society. Nowhere is this transformation more evident than in finance, where AI tools can analyze vast quantities of information to inform business decisions, improve efficiency, and reduce human error. It can thus streamline business processes and free up resources for more productive uses.

However, like all major innovations, AI also carries risks. It can itself be prone to error, and developing sound practices to ensure its responsible use — and to avoid potential misuse — is essential.

This conference will examine both the opportunities and challenges of applying AI to identify and manage risks in finance and related activities. That may involve enhancing the monitoring of firms, markets, and their activities. It may also enable deeper research into financial and systemic risks — including identifying and addressing data gaps exposed by such analysis.

Recent Conferences

Visit our past conferences page for information and videos from our prior conferences.