Artificial intelligence was once a futuristic concept. But today, AI is an everyday reality in our personal and professional lives.
As Alicia Tapia, Senior Technology Strategist at Microsoft, explained it, “AI is no longer a thing of the future. It’s here, and it’s transforming how we operate across every industry.”
Governance is no exception. In fact, innovative boards are already adopting AI to streamline operations and enable smarter decision-making. But there’s no denying that AI also introduces unique challenges.
How can boards take advantage of the benefits of AI while avoiding its pitfalls?
Recently, Tapia joined Tim Adair, Chief Product Officer at OnBoard for an exclusive session on the transformative power of AI in the boardroom. Their discussion spanned topics including:
- Transforming governance: How AI is increasing productivity and enhancing decision-making in the boardroom.
- Responsible AI adoption: How to implement ethical AI practices in your governance strategy.
- Importance of security: Why you need robust security measures to protect your board’s sensitive information in the new era of AI.
Here, we share key takeaways from this timely session.
AI drives significant ROI
Artificial intelligence isn’t just a novel concept. It’s a powerful strategy that’s driving clear, accelerated ROI for organizations. Tapia shared data points from a recent Microsoft report that back this claim:
- For every $1 a company invests in AI, it is realizing an average return of $3.5.
- On average, it takes organizations 14 months to realize a return on their AI investments.
“Whether it’s cutting costs or improving decision-making or enhancing customer collaboration, AI is showing real value at every level,” said Tapia.
But how? Tapia shared a few examples.
- AI-driven automation is reducing the amount of time spent on manual processes. That means employees can move from menial tasks to meaningful tasks.
- Predictive analytics helps leaders make more informed decisions.
- AI-enhanced communication tools are driving collaboration and productivity within the organization.
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AI Empowers Nonprofits to Maximize Impact
It’s no secret that nonprofit organizations are often strapped for resources. Strategically leveraging AI can help these organizations maximize their impact – even with limited resources.
“[The ROI of AI] is particularly important for nonprofits because by streamlining operations and optimizing resource allocation, AI can help nonprofit organizations to achieve more with less,” said Tapia.
“The ROI isn’t just in theory,” she continued. “We’ve seen real-world examples of achieving faster project turnaround, increased donor engagement, more efficient campaigns – all thanks to AI.”
Tapia shared some practical use cases for generative AI, including:
- Content generation: Drafting and refining proposals.
- Code generation: Speeding up the development process, which is especially important for organizations with smaller teams.
- Semantic search: Understanding the context behind search queries.
- Summarization: Generating concise summaries of lengthy documentation. “This helps board members stay informed without having to dive into every detail,” said Tapia.
Responsible AI is critical
Responsible AI refers to the “ethical and socially conscious development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence systems.” It involves ensuring that AI technologies are designed and implemented in a manner that:
- Aligns with human values
- Respects fundamental rights
- Minimizes potential negative impacts on individuals and society as a whole
Responsible AI must be a priority for every organization. But why?
For starters, AI innovation is occurring at a rapid pace. According to Tapia, “AI is woven into the fabric of our everyday experiences. In addition, companies are accelerating their adoption of AI to innovate and improve operations.
At the same time, societal expectations are evolving and governments are regulating AI in response.
“We don’t only want AI to be powerful. We also want it to be ethical, transparent, and fair,” explained Tapia.
AI Introduces Unique Challenges
AI can have a large, positive impact on organizations of all kinds. However, it also introduces some unique challenges.
According to Tapia, there are 4 major areas of harm that organizations must consider:
- Hallucination and errors: The system is “hallucinating,” producing unexpected results.
- Jailbreaks and prompt injection attacks: The user is tracking the system to give a response that’s harmful.
- Harmful content and code: Code injection attacks in data
- Manipulation and human-like behavior: AI is adopting human-like behavior, like an AI generated video that mimics a person.
“AI has the power to assist in making faster, data-driven decisions,” said Tapia. “But without the proper oversight, it can lead to unintended consequences. It can affect the trust of your stakeholders.
Organizations must ensure they ethically leverage AI in a way that minimizes these harms.
Board Members Have an Important Role to Play
When it comes to responsible AI adoption, boards have an important role to play.
“You, as a board member, must understand strategy and risk,” said Tapia. “It’s important to ask the right questions when governing AI.”
According to Tapia, there are 3 critical steps boards must focus on.
- Access artificial intelligence impact. AI isn’t just a tool. It’s embedded into day-to-day interactions and how you engage with stakeholders. “By understanding the full impact, you can be more prepared to manage its challenges,” said Tapia.
- Stay informed. This is critical, as regulations and compliance related to AI are constantly evolving. “We want AI systems to be safe, transparent, and non-discriminatory,” said Tapia.
- Focus on ethics. AI has the potential to be extremely powerful. But according to Tapia, “we also need it to be accountable and transparent.”
OnBoard and Microsoft are Revolutionizing Governance
There’s a huge opportunity for boards to leverage AI to positively impact the way they do work. But getting started can feel overwhelming.
OnBoard and Microsoft are accelerating boardroom governance.
“Together, we’re not just optimizing boardroom productivity; we’re also enabling more ethical and responsible governance,” said Tapia.
There are 3 main areas where OnBoard and Microsoft can positively impact board members:
- Delivering better data-driven insights: Board members gain access to tools like Azure Open AI, predictive analytics, and automated workflows to transform how boards operate. In addition, directors are enabled with data-backed decisions at their fingertips
- Innovation at scale: OnBoard’s commitment to innovation combined with Microsoft AI advancements empowers boards to navigate complex challenges.
- Security and compliance: Governance requires the highest level of security. Microsoft’s Trusted Cloud ensures OnBoard’s platform protects sensitive data, meeting all compliance standards and minimizing risk.
OnBoard is Dedicated to Ongoing AI Innovation
OnBoard is dedicated to leveraging AI to help transform the way boards work. The company regularly releases new platform functionality that enables boards to benefit from AI in ways that are safe and secure.
“We’re excited about enabling our users with the ability to summarize, augment, and automate industry-specific workflows,” said Adair.
Adair gave webinar attendees a sneak peek of two AI innovations – one that’s available today and one that’s coming soon.
Now Available: Intelligent Assistant
Intelligent Assistant is a helpful and intuitive virtual assistant that understands your questions and provides valuable insights from your board and governance information. This feature is live today on OnBoard, with additional enhancements rolling out in the future.
Coming Soon: Automated Minutes
This feature records meetings, provides transcripts, summarizes outlines, and generates meeting minutes automatically.
“We know that creating minutes is a very manual process. If a director misses a meeting, going back to access the meeting is challenging,” said Adair. “What we’ve done with Automated Minutes is to record a meeting, summarize it, and take the summary and create minutes out of it – all aligned with a set agenda.”
AI can have a large, positive impact on board work. However, this technology also introduces challenges. When adopting AI, it’s critical to do so responsibly. It’s important to work with technology partners that are committed to responsible AI.
“[AI delivers] a lot of great benefits, but also pitfalls,” said Tapia. “We need to be proactive in addressing challenges. We need to make sure AI is contributing positively to our society.”
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About The Author
- Adam Wire is a Content Marketing Manager at OnBoard who joined the company in 2021. A Ball State University graduate, Adam worked in various content marketing roles at Angi, USA Football, and Adult & Child Health following a 12-year career in newspapers. His favorite part of the job is problem-solving and helping teammates achieve their goals. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and two dogs. He’s an avid sports fan and foodie who also enjoys lawn and yard work and running.
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