By Nicola M White Securities and Exchange Commission examiners will step up scrutiny of private fund valuations and artificial intelligence, the latest sign of regulatory concerns about emerging market risk.

Investment advisers, brokers, clearing agencies and others can expect staffers at the Wall Street watchdog to focus on fees, expenses and valuations in private funds, according to the agency’s Division of Examinations priorities released Friday. The agency also plans to zoom in on how firms prepare for AI-related cyberattacks.

The focus on private fund valuations and credit comes as the SEC considers expanding retail investor access to private markets, including private equity and early-stage startups that have been historically off-limits to the general public.

At the same time, private credit managers have faced a wave of redemption requests as anxious investors try to cash out. Examiners will spend time on what the SEC calls retail investor protection, particularly for complex, higher-risk, and illiquid products, the agency said.

Although artificial intelligence has been listed as a priority for examiners in previous years, the SEC went into further details this year to reflect rapid changes in technology, including cybersecurity.

Examiners will focus on how AI-fueled attacks may affect firms’ businesses or customers, such as through phishing messages and deepfake voice and video used for social engineering.

The SEC publishes its examinations priorities every year to signal how it aims to promote compliance, identify fraud, and monitor risks. Exam staffers sometimes escalate findings to the agency’s enforcement division for further investigation.

The staff also examines so-called self-regulatory organizations, such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the regulator for broker-dealers.

“Examinations are one of the Commission’s most important tools for promoting compliance with the federal securities laws and helping protect investors,” SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said in a statement.

This year, the examinations staff added the US audit regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, to its list of examination targets. Queries could include whether the board, which regulates auditors, would include whether the organization is is following its own policies and procedures.

The report also included a new section about how the SEC is coordinating with fellow Wall Street regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the derivatives market.

Some firms operate in both the commodity futures market and the equity options markets and are subject to exams from the two agencies. Both regulators have said they want to coordinate examination planning to figure out opportunities for joint or aligned reviews.