As artificial intelligence races through the enterprise, leaders are rethinking tools and tempo. AI-powered risk management is reshaping the audit and the organization’s control environment.

But momentum is fragile. Many programs surge, stall and then slip into “perpetual pilot.” Therefore, the first move is always clarity, according to Richard Chambers (pictured), senior internal audit advisor at AuditBoard Inc.

AuditBoard’s Richard Chambers talks to theCUBE about risk management in the AI era.

“It starts with recognizing that risks are really the events that will keep you from achieving your strategy or your objectives,” he said. “If you don’t have a really strong sound strategic plan with very crisp and clear objectives, it’s going to be very difficult for you to maintain any kind of a corporate-wide view of risk and risk management.”

Chambers spoke with theCUBE’s Rob Strechay and Rebecca Knight at Audit & Beyond, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed what risk has meant historically for the enterprise and how AI might transform the approach to risk management entirely. (* Disclosure below.) 

The promise behind AI-powered risk management

AuditBoard’s research shows clear trends in terms of AI deployment. Consistently, there is a “middle maturity trap” in month-by-month readings: progress in June, then a dip in July after bad inputs shook confidence, according to Chambers. Sustained momentum requires a clear strategy, defined risk tolerance and visible sponsorship for AI from the top — with boards explicitly engaged, Chambers noted. 

“[AuditBoard is] going to be a pioneer in this,” he said. “But then you have to understand, what are its capabilities and what are the risks? Because for all the opportunities that AI promises, I think right now, it’s the risks that are the dark clouds that keep a lot of companies from jumping in with both feet … There has to be a commitment to it. There has to be board oversight. The board has to be all in.”

What boards buy with commitment is efficiency. That includes AI-powered risk management insights for internal auditors from familiar data sets, delivered in a fraction of the usual time, according to Chambers. 

“It will enable them to leverage the data that’s already at their fingertips and to do it in a way that gives them a tremendous amount of insight that maybe they would’ve normally taken days or weeks to gather,” he said. “I think that’s going to excite a lot of folks in the audit field, because we don’t have the capacity to do that. And if we did, it would take all the resources we have.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Audit & Beyond event:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Audit & Beyond event. Neither AuditBoard, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE