The Artificial Intelligence Bill, 2026 was published in June 2026 as a Senate bill. It is not law yet. It would classify AI systems by risk, require assessments and human oversight for high-risk uses such as finance and employment, and create an Office of the Artificial Intelligence Commissioner.
The law that applies today
If your AI tools touch personal data, such as customer chats, loan applications or staff records, the Data Protection Act, 2019 already applies. Section 35 gives people the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing where it has legal or similarly significant effects on them, with limited exceptions. Where such a decision is made, the person must be told.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner can impose fines of up to KES 5 million, or 1% of the previous year’s turnover, whichever is lower.
Practical rules for using AI in finance work
- Know what data each AI tool receives and where it is stored.
- Do not paste client financial records into public AI tools without a contract that covers confidentiality.
- Keep a person responsible for any decision that affects a customer or employee, such as credit or hiring.
- Record what each automated process does, so you can explain it to a client or the regulator.
Where automation pays off
The safest gains are in routine work: linking eTIMS and bank feeds to your accounting system, capturing invoices automatically, and building dashboards for cash and tax due. That is the focus of our AI and business automation service.