How Muse and other AI agents could spark a bank run, according to an economist

An Apollo Global Management chief economist has raised a scenario worth understanding: agentic AI — systems that act autonomously on a user's behalf — could, in theory, contribute to a bank run. The concern is speed and coordination. If AI agents are authorized to move money and can react to news or market signals faster than any human depositor, withdrawals that once unfolded over days could compress into minutes.

The mechanism matters more than the prediction. A bank run is fundamentally a confidence event: depositors withdraw because they expect others to withdraw first. Software that monitors headlines, social sentiment, or peer behavior could amplify that reflex, executing transfers automatically before account holders have time to deliberate. The economist's note was brief, but the implication is that AI-driven finance may shorten the window banks and regulators have to respond.

What to watch: how regulators treat autonomous transaction authority, whether banks impose safeguards such as rate limits or human confirmation for large transfers, and how deposit-insurance frameworks adapt. None of this guarantees a run — but it is a reminder that technology changes the tempo of financial panics, not just their tools.