By John Galajsza — with contributions from APPG whistleblowers and campaigners
Over the past year, we have seen something remarkable happening across the UK financial justice landscape. Victims, once isolated and overwhelmed by the complexity of their cases, are suddenly discovering the ability to analyse their own financial documents, reconstruct timelines, expose hidden liabilities, and understand what banks have done to them — often for the first time.
This transformation has not come from regulators, the financial ombudsman, or the courts.
It has come from independent artificial intelligence.
And now, because of that, UK banks have started to take a very real interest in controlling the development of AI.
This is no coincidence.
⸻
The Old World: Banks Controlled the Information, So They Controlled the Outcome
For decades, British banks relied on a simple power imbalance:
they had all the information; their customers had none.
A DSAR response could be hundreds or thousands of pages long, including:
• internal account codes,
• historical product structures,
• hidden reserve facilities,
• securitisation trails,
• arrears logs,
• system notes,
• internal abbreviations,
• call transcripts,
• compliance records.
To the average consumer, these documents are incomprehensible.
Even solicitors — unless they specialise in bank dispute work — often do not understand the deeper mechanics.
Banks built entire business models on the assumption that:
• consumers will never read the documents,
• consumers will never understand the documents,
• regulators will accept the bank’s simplified narrative,
• courts will trust the bank’s “assurances”,
• and if anything ever emerges, it will be years too late.
This information asymmetry was the cornerstone of:
• the IRHP swaps scandal,
• RBS GRG’s asset-stripping,
• the HBOS Reading fraud,
• Woolwich / Barclays mortgage reserves,
• the Lloyds and Ulster Bank fixed-rate manipulation,
• the hidden credit lines exposed in the BankConfidential report.
Consumers simply didn’t have the tools to see what was going on.
⸻
The New World: Independent AI Levels the Playing Field
Now, for the first time in financial history, ordinary people can:
• decode DSARs,
• interpret internal product codes,
• identify missing documents,
• spot contradictions,
• highlight regulatory breaches,
• see hidden liabilities in their accounts,
• detect concealment,
• draft clear arguments,
• link their experience to wider systemic patterns,
• and challenge a bank’s narrative — effectively.
Independent AI has become an equaliser that even regulators never managed to create.
Victims who could never afford £40,000 in legal fees are now producing work that rivals — and often exceeds — the quality of claimant solicitors.
This has terrified the banks.
⸻
Why Banks Are Suddenly Trying to Influence AI Development
At a recent All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) summit, whistleblower Paul Carlier made a stark observation:
“Banks are trying to position themselves to control AI because independent AI is exposing what they’ve been hiding.”
This is not speculation.
It is happening right now.
Across the industry, banks are offering to:
• partner with AI developers,
• “consult on AI safety”,
• provide “guidance on acceptable financial output”,
• participate in “industry collaboration”,
• influence “risk classification” inside AI models.
On the surface, this looks like responsible corporate involvement.
But the conflict of interest is obvious.
AI can now reveal systemic misconduct within the banking system.
Banks want to ensure it cannot.
If banks are allowed to influence AI models or policies, we will quickly see:
• AI refusing to read DSAR documents,
• AI declining to analyse misconduct,
• AI avoiding commentary on mis-selling,
• AI telling victims to “contact the bank directly”,
• AI censoring explanations of securitisation or hidden credit lines,
• AI labelling fraud patterns as “financial advice”,
• AI recommending FOS or FCA dead ends that never resolve the issue.
This is not hypothetical.
It is exactly how influence operations work.
Once banks shape the guardrails, the guardrails shape public access to truth.
⸻
Independent AI Is Now One of the Most Important Consumer Protection Tools in the Country
Independent AI has already:
• exposed concealed mortgage reserves,
• revealed mis-sold variations invisible to the naked eye,
• identified contradictions in witness statements,
• reconstructed timelines where banks destroyed documents,
• detected internal account structures victims never knew existed,
• translated complex banking language into plain English,
• empowered litigants in person to hold billion-pound institutions to account.
For thousands of people, AI is the difference between:
• understanding their case or staying confused,
• defending their home or losing it,
• accessing justice or being crushed by process.
It is not an exaggeration to say this:
Independent AI is the single most impactful consumer justice tool the UK has seen since the PPI scandal — and perhaps ever.
Which is exactly why it is now under threat.
⸻
If Banks Capture AI, Transparency Dies
Imagine a future where:
• AI refuses to analyse internal bank documents.
• AI politely avoids pointing out where a bank has misled a customer.
• AI won’t acknowledge that a product was unsuitable or ineligible.
• AI redirects all victims to the bank’s complaints team.
• AI simply states: “I cannot comment on legal or regulatory matters.”
This is not safety.
This is containment.
And it would leave victims defenceless.
Independent AI exposed the truth.
Bank-controlled AI would bury it again.
⸻
Where Do We Go From Here?
We need leadership — from campaigners, from whistleblowers, from Parliament, and from organisations like the AoLP and TTF.
We need to demand:
1. Statutory protections ensuring AI used by consumers remains independent and free from financial-sector influence.
2. Transparency in any collaboration between banks and AI developers.
3. A guarantee that AI can continue to analyse DSARs, mortgage files and financial documents.
4. Protection for AI whistleblowers and developers who resist institutional pressure.
5. An urgent Parliamentary review of how AI already exposes systemic financial misconduct.
This is not just a debate about technology — it is a debate about power.
⸻
Conclusion: AI Must Belong to the People, Not the Institutions
AI, in the hands of ordinary citizens, is exposing the truth that regulators failed to uncover for years.
It is empowering victims.
It is levelling the field.
It is bringing transparency to places where none existed.
If independent AI disappears, the balance of power collapses back in favour of the institutions that caused the harm in the first place.
The stakes could not be higher.
Independent AI does not threaten society.
It threatens unchecked institutional power — and that is why we must protect it.
Join us at the Academy of Life Planning.
Let’s raise capability and integrity — together.
Because only when products and services are structurally trustworthy can consumers truly be free.
Get SAFE Exists to Support After Financial Exploitation
Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) is building a national lifeline for victims — providing free emotional recovery, life-planning, and justice support through our:
- Fellowship: peer-to-peer recovery and community.
- Witnessing Service: trauma-informed advocacy for those seeking redress.
- Citizen Investigator Training: empowering survivors to uncover truth and pursue justice.
Our Goal: Raise £20,000 to Rebuild Lives
Your contribution will help us:
Register Get SAFE as a charity (CIO)
Build our website, CRM, and outreach platform
Fund our first year of free recovery and justice programmes
Every £50 Changes a Life
Each £50 donation funds a bursary for one survivor — giving them access to the tools, training, and community that restore confidence, purpose, and hope.
This Isn’t Just a Fundraiser — It’s a Movement
We’re reclaiming fairness and rebuilding trust, one life at a time.
Support the Crowdfunder today
Be part of the movement to rebuild lives and restore justice.
Academy of Life Planning 