The EU AI Act and SEC 17a-4 are colliding with autonomous agents. How to implement "Human-in-the-Loop" without killing latency.
Regulators (EU AI Act Art. 14) demand that human oversight must be technically capable of intervening. If an AI agent goes "rogue" (e.g., infinite loop buying), a human must be able to pull the plug.
However, if the agent is in a TEE, who holds the plug?
ZeroCopy implements a Cryptographic Kill Switch. The Enclave policy includes a ForceExit condition signed by a Compliance Key.
Simulate a trading agent going rogue and engaging the kill switch.
SEC 15c3-5 (Market Access Rule): Broker-dealers must have "direct and exclusive control" over financial risk management controls. A decentralized AI agent with no off-switch is non-compliant by definition.
Not all AI is treated equal. The EU AI Act categorizes systems by risk. Most trading agents fall under High Risk due to "Critical Infrastructure" or "Financial Systems" adjacency.
Transparency Obligations Only.
There is a fundamental tension between Client Benefit (Best Execution, Privacy) and Firm Profit (Internalization, Data Mining). Regulators exist in this conflict zone.