Artificial Intelligence Poses Difficult Questions for Corporate Boards. It Can Also Improve How They Work.

Technology governance and risk management have long been tough subjects in corporate boardrooms predominantly populated by non-technologists. Artificial intelligence, and particularly the rocketing popularity of generative AI (GenAI) over the last 12 to 15 months, raised new alarms about that competency gap and the urgency to close it.

But even as technology and digitization have been incorporated in board training and education programs, including those of organizations like the Corporate Governance Institute and National Association of Corporate Directors, AI has begun to emerge as not just another strategic challenge for businesses and for board-level oversight, but also as an aid in governance.

According to Gartner director analyst Lauren Kornutick, GenAI is being programmed into governance, risk and compliance software at such a pace that GRC tools without these capabilities will quickly become obsolete.

That is what it will take “to remain viable solutions in the marketplace,” says Kornutick, who focuses on compliance risk, technology and analytics in Gartner’s Legal & Compliance group. Its research finds that “51% of GRC...