In remarks at FRED Con 2026, Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller announced that users seeking certain data published by the Board will soon be routed to Federal Reserve Economic Data, or FRED, and its tools. He also outlined FRED’s response to growing use by artificial intelligence systems, including the introduction of the FRED Model Context Protocol Connector to help AI agents retrieve economic data accurately and with appropriate documentation. FRED traffic is growing 150% annually, driven mainly by AI and bots, and AI agents now account for about half of visits. While testing indicates that agents generally explain visualizations and complex concepts accurately, Waller highlighted risks including hallucinations, bias, hidden assumptions, source misattribution and errors in interpreting correlation as causation. FRED is also developing tools to help AI agents work with economic data and plans to link inquiries to relevant historical documents in the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research and earlier data vintages in ArchivaL Federal Reserve Economic Data.
Federal Reserve Board to route users seeking certain data to FRED as platform adds AI connector
Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller announced that users seeking certain Board data will soon be routed to FRED and its tools. FRED has also introduced an AI connector as traffic grows 150% annually and AI agents account for about half of visits, while work continues to improve attribution, interpretation and links to historical records.