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AI has rapidly transitioned from an emerging concept to an operational reality in boardrooms today. In this episode of the Public Company Series Podcast, host Doug Chia sits down with Tim Adair, Chief Product Officer at OnBoard, to explore how directors are already using AI to prepare for meetings, sharpen their questions, and close the information gap between boards and management.
Chia frames the discussion around a core tension. Boards often focus on AI oversight, but he emphasizes how AI can improve board effectiveness by closing the information gap with management.
OnBoard’s Board Effectiveness Survey suggests that shift is well underway. According to Chia, nearly 7 in 10 board professionals report using some form of AI for board work, and 40% use more than one AI tool. The takeaway is clear. This isn’t isolated adoption, but widespread experimentation.
From Page-Turning to Decision-Ready: How Prep Is Changing
Adair says the most immediate change is happening before the meeting ever starts. Directors are moving beyond passive reading and toward active synthesis.
“Things are changing really just from…reading and directors consuming content to…using AI to summarize and give them direction on what they should be asking,” Adair explains. The goal isn’t simply speed. It’s getting directors out of the weeds so they can focus on judgment and decisions.
AI helps directors prepare faster and arrive at meetings ready to engage, with the context needed for deeper discussions.
That shift can also elevate the board’s dynamic with management. When directors connect the dots beforehand, Adair says it “elevates the dialogue” because questions become more pointed and discussions become more effective.
Higher Standards, New Expectations
Better prep comes with a new baseline. If AI can summarize a deck, surface themes, and help generate questions, then board members have no excuse for showing up unprepared.
Adair puts it plainly: “The expectation is changing,” and AI-assisted prep is raising the bar for what it means to show up ready. Directors are increasingly expected to arrive with “synthesized views and a bit deeper insight,” not just impressions from skimming a board book.
Chia agrees the upside is real but flags an important implication: as AI boosts readiness for some, it may quietly expose gaps for others. If expectations rise faster than adoption, boards could end up with uneven participation, especially when directors rate themselves lower on tech savviness even as usage climbs.
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Focusing On What Really Matters
Chia names a common frustration: sometimes AI helps digest material, and sometimes it returns so much that it creates more work. Adair says AI becomes valuable when it helps directors see patterns, not just pages.
“One of the ways AI is very effective is enabling a director to see patterns more effectively,” he says. The win is the ability to surface trends and themes and then use those to drive better conversations. Directors can ask, “What am I missing?” and thread topics across meetings to connect context over time.
This is also where boards’ future-proofing mindset comes into focus as they look ahead, track competitor moves, and scan for early signals. But Adair cautions against treating AI like a magic eight ball. AI-generated summaries can include errors, which means humans still need to validate accuracy. His recommendation is to treat AI as a signal, not a conclusion.
The “Illusion of Mastery” and the Right Way to Use AI
As the conversation gets more candid, Chia raises a concern many directors won’t admit out loud: AI can create confidence without competence. Adair agrees there’s a risk of “an illusion of mastery” or a feeling of “this is the answer and that’s it.”
The antidote is to use AI to structure inquiry, not to outsource thinking. Adair explains how he uses AI to ask, “What am I missing and what questions should I be asking?” When the tool proposes new angles, it can help directors go deeper without pretending they’re instant experts.
Chia says AI can help boards admit what they don’t know, then pressure-test management more effectively. Used correctly, AI supports business judgment rather than replacing it.
Security, Confidentiality, and the Risk of “Unsanctioned” Tools
The episode eventually turns to risk—the questions lawyers always bring. Adair says the biggest concerns he hears are confidentiality and data exposure.
His clearest warning is about consumer-grade tools and sensitive materials. “Any unsanctioned consumer AI tools…like uploading sensitive board material to any of them, that should be a red flag,” he says. Boards often don’t know what happens to data once it’s uploaded or who can access it later.
Adair emphasizes that OnBoard’s direction is to keep AI “within four walls,” backed by enterprise guardrails, permissions, and policies designed to keep organizational data from being used to train external models. When asked directly, he’s unequivocal: “We’re never mixing any data.”
Chia also raises a practical legal concern: recording meetings and generating transcripts can create discovery risk. Adair notes that OnBoard supports a “scaled approach,” so organizations can use AI features selectively and control retention, including recording, generating minutes, and deleting the source materials if they choose.
What Boards Should Start Doing—and Stop Doing
If Adair could give directors one “start now” move, it’s setting the rules of the road.
Approved tools, clear boundaries, and shared expectations help normalize responsible use so AI adoption doesn’t become inconsistent, informal, or risky.
If he could name one behavior boards should stop, it’s uploading board materials into non-approved consumer tools. That’s the fastest route to unintended exposure.
The Bottom Line: Experiment But Stay Grounded
Adair’s closing message is optimistic, but not naive. Boards that use AI securely can gain real advantage in prep, pattern recognition, and decision support. Directors can become more confident and more engaged because they arrive ready with context and sharper questions.
But the episode also makes one thing clear: AI doesn’t eliminate the director’s duty of judgment. It can accelerate understanding, surface blind spots, and raise the quality of dialogue if boards treat it as a disciplined tool, not a shortcut.
As Adair puts it, this is a rare opportunity to deliver nearly a 10x impact for directors willing to experiment responsibly.
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About The Author
- Ashley Merder is the Senior Manager of Brand Marketing at OnBoard, where she leads brand strategy, content, social presence, and creative direction. With over a decade of experience working alongside a nonprofit board, she brings a mission-driven perspective to B2B SaaS. Her work focuses on making strategy visible using clarity, discipline, and design to shape how the brand is understood, trusted, and experienced.
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