AI in Action: Lessons from Boards and Committees Exploring Adoption

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept. It’s a practical tool that governance professionals are using today to enhance efficiency, consistency, and communication.

From drafting minutes to managing board documentation, AI offers real opportunities to streamline operations. But to realise its full potential, it must be introduced thoughtfully, ethically, and with the right safeguards in place. Below are key considerations for governance teams exploring AI adoption.

Getting Prepared

1. Start with the Boardroom Conversation

Before any implementation begins, AI needs to be on the board or committee agenda. Boards should be given the opportunity to explore the potential, ask questions, and raise concerns. Ethical AI use starts with the consent of the people whose contributions it will capture. It’s not sufficient to simply ask if anyone minds and get going.

With many organisations now exploring AI, trustees and board members may also have valuable experience to share — like the time when transcripts were mistakenly sent to an entire department, or when using recordings was approved but participation noticeably dropped. These are important lessons to learn from.

Open conversations build trust from the outset. AI must be introduced as a strategic enabler and not a surprise. Early feedback ensures the process can be co-developed and co-owned.

2. Establish Clear Parameters

AI tools should be deployed with a shared understanding of their implications and a collective agreement on how they’ll be used. This includes transparency around:

• What documents AI will be used to generate or refine - will it just produce the cover sheet summary or will it be used for whole papers?

• How those documents will be created - from recordings, transcripts or other content?

• Who is responsible for managing them - will it be the internal team, the senior leadership team or the board sponsor that takes ultimate responsibility?

• How long will recordings and transcripts be kept - until documents are approved or a period of reference?

Governance teams should ensure AI use reflects organisational values and supports good governance practice.

3. Set Up for Secure and Compliant Outputs

A common concern is where AI-generated outputs are stored and the risk of unintended sharing. It’s essential to establish a secure location for recordings, transcripts, and other outputs - ensuring compliance with data protection policies.

Boards and committees often discuss sensitive issues before they are ready for organisation-wide communication. If not used well, AI tools can result in the information being distributed to or becoming searchable across the organisation. Use appropriate tools to maintain a closed system, and implement access controls to limit internal visibility. It is vital to collaborate with IT and legal colleagues to ensure AI tools and the processes around their use meet standards for confidentiality, access control, and auditability.

4. Train AI to Reflect Your Organisation’s Style

AI systems are only as good as the data and instructions they receive. It’s unlikely that any AI tool will produce perfect minutes on the first try.

Invest time in training your AI tools to produce what you need. By providing examples of previous minutes and papers, brand guidelines, and templates, you can help the system learn tone, formatting, and structure.

Taking this step before launching your process can improve the quality of the outputs and help to maintain trust. It can also reduce the manual editing required later and deliver a much more efficient process.

Getting Started

5. Use AI to Enhance, Not Replace

AI should support the governance function - not replace it. The goal is to free up time for strategy, engagement, and improvement by making existing processes more efficient.

By automating routine tasks like drafting minutes or summarising papers, governance professionals can focus on enabling effective leadership and accountability. Human engagement and oversight remain essential. Al can produce drafts but the final documents need to be reviewed, amended and owned by the right person. This is especially true for those informing strategic decisions or forming formal records.

Critical thinking and professional discretion cannot be delegated.

6. Pilot Before You Scale

Start small. Trial AI tools in low-risk areas such as internal meeting notes or routine reporting first. For early attempts, ensure you can always fall back on an established manual process if the tool you are using doesn't produce what you are expecting. Next, you could move to a sub-committee or working group.

You can use these pilots to find the teething problems, refine your process, identify gaps, and build confidence across the team. This can help you to avoid those issues in more sensitive governance groups.

7. Review and Audit Regularly

AI is evolving rapidly, with tools and functionality expanding all the time. The outputs they produce are not just dependent on the tools but also the user and the process. With so many variables, regular review is essential. This includes checking for bias, accuracy, and compliance with evolving policies.

By establishing a periodic process, you can ensure that you maintain the trust and support built at the outset. It also keeps the door open for continuous improvement, keeping pace with the newest developments and avoiding emerging pitfalls.

8. Collaborate To Build Consensus

Successful AI adoption in governance requires collaboration. You may need support from IT, legal, data protection, and communications teams. You also need to engage with the people whose conversations and work will become embedded in your AI processes. There will be lessons to be learned from AI adoption across the organisation and from peers across the sector. Establishing cross-organisational working groups and engaging colleagues regularly helps to ensure that your processes are consistent, and aligned with broader organisational strategies.

Final Thoughts

AI is not a silver bullet, but it can be a powerful tool. With thoughtful planning, clear governance, and a commitment to ethical use, it can help boards and governance teams work smarter, faster, and more consistently.

The key is to start the conversation early and keep the feedback loops active so that your approach can stay agile in the face of exponential change.