AI: What Corporate Governance Professionals and Boards need to know

This event took place on Wednesday 24 April 2024 at the CGIUKI Head Office, Farringdon, London.

Download the presentation slides Here.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is evolving and developing at an ever increasing rate, presenting both opportunities and threats to the way that business operates today and will operate tomorrow. The emergence into the mainstream of large language models, such as ChatGPT, has provoked a range of questions for business and society more generally, including the potential long-term impact of AI on business models, the workforce and wider society, and how and to what extent AI can and should be regulated. It also provokes a range of ethical questions, including how businesses might engage with stakeholders in future.

Boards need to debate these questions. But how is this best done? How can the Board set the right strategy and put the right metrics in place around AI and build the skills and competencies to perform its role effectively? And what role should corporate governance professionals play?

These questions were addressed by our expert panel, further details of which are set out below, followed by informal networking.

We're very grateful to ONE Advisory for sponsoring this event.

Speaker

Paul Johnston:   Associate Director, ONE Advisory Limited and Chair of the CGI SE England Branch - Moderator

Paul is an Associate Director at ONE Advisory Limited, a business providing financial reporting and corporate governance services to a range of listed clients. Paul is also Company Secretary at the Blockchain and Climate Institute, an international think tank looking at deployment of emerging technologies to address climate change, and serves as the Chair of the CGI's South East England Branch.

Paul passionate believes that the corporate governance / company secretarial profession has a central role to play in supporting companies to do the ‘right thing’, both in terms of ethical standards and value generation for shareholders and other stakeholders. The demands on the profession are changing and it’s important that the profession adapts to these demands. In other words, it’s never been a more interesting and exciting time to be a corporate governance professional!

Alan Hewitt:  Non-Executive Director, Praxonomy and Former Partner at IBM - Panellist

Alan is a Non-executive Director at Praxonomy. Alan has worked in IT Services and Consulting for more than 40 years, including 30 years at IBM, where he was an Executive Partner in IBM's Global Consulting Business responsible for the development of the Workforce Transformation Practice. Since leaving IBM in 2010, he has worked as an independent Business Consultant working for major companies across industries and the world. Alan is a Fellow of both the IET and BCS.

Diana Rose: Head of ESG Research, Insig AI - Panellist

Diana Rose is Head of ESG Research at Insig AI, developing technology-enabled tools to drive best practice ESG assessment. She has 15 years of experience in environmental and social sustainability, working closely with corporates on many aspects of ESG including impact management systems, strategy, reporting and communications.

Claire Bodanis: Director, Falcon Windsor - Panellist

Claire is one of the UK’s leading authorities on corporate reporting. She is the founder and director of Falcon Windsor, a specialist reporting advisory company.  What sets FW apart is Claire’s philosophy: it is only by understanding why we are required to report that we can navigate the complexities of regulation and do the difficult job of reporting well. This led to Claire being asked by the Chartered Governance Institute to write a guide to reporting for UK plc. Trust me, I’m listed: why the annual report matters and how to do it well, was published (second edition) in October 2021. In 2023 Claire researched the use of AI in reporting, and, in November, published guidance for Boards and management on a responsible approach.

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