AI and the GC
In April, we brought together GCs and senior lawyers from businesses across sectors from telecoms, financial services, creative and media, professional services, technology, and energy to discuss how AI is affecting their industry and their role, and their views on the future of the General Counsel.
This blog captures some of the themes we explored and the experiences of those in the room.
AI is no respecter of organisational silos…
AI cuts across organisational structures. It could allow businesses to see across their data in new ways, identifying issues and connections that do not sit within one function. But people still need to decide what those insights mean and what action should follow.
Issues linked to AI can escalate quickly and are increasingly connected to external context, linking internal business processes to outside pressures as never before. This is happening at a time when the operating environment is volatile and impossible to predict.
…and it brings threats as well as opportunities
AI presents opportunity but also creates risks. Workforce restructuring and resizing, as an example, is complicated and can be fraught. Even where the end goal is effective, the transition can be uncomfortable or dangerous.
Businesses are creating insider risk or operational strain by requiring fewer staff to be more productive while absorbing the time required to remain ‘in the loop’ for the work AI is doing on their behalf.
Different businesses are responding differently…
There is no right answer here. Nobody knows how AI adoption will develop or what its full consequences will be, and different industries are feeling the effects differently.
There is likely to be a degree of blind faith in any AI adoption programme today. There are still very few demonstrations of sustained return on investment, which makes it hard to build fully informed strategies. Businesses are therefore having to decide whether to move quickly or more deliberately, without knowing which approach will serve them best. Do they want to be a tortoise or a hare?
…and different roles have different imperatives
How you approach the risks and benefits of AI can depend on your role. The CFO may be looking for efficiency savings. Security teams may be focused on control and restriction. Employees may be concerned about whether their jobs are safe.
These different imperatives shape how AI risk and opportunity are understood. They can also make it hard to create a common view of what balanced adoption should look like across the executive team.
You need a compass, anchor, and radar
AI will mark a moment of dislocation in a business’s operating context – a point at which the conditions around the organisation change.
In those moments, a business needs a compass to orient itself. It needs an anchor to hold on to purpose and values. And it needs a radar to detect signals before they become crises.
The GC has a role in all three.
The GC role in AI strategy, risk management, and exploitation
Whoever owns the AI strategy or risk, the GC will be at the heart of the issue.
GCs are drawn into the most difficult issues a business faces. They are always called in a crisis, and they are used to handling fine detail, ambiguity, and strategic context at the same time. This combination is unique and can be crucial in setting and applying an AI strategy.
Some GCs are finding themselves the de facto risk owners for AI adoption. But that does not always make it easy to create a shared view of the balance between risk and opportunity across the executive team. While some GCs have the issue thrust upon them, others struggle to assert their role.
To respond, some felt that the GC role might need to shift to include being a Chief Intelligence Officer or Chief Resilience Officer, drawing flexibly on the skills that are required of a successful GC.
As we were reminded in the room, the title of the role is General Counsel, after all.
How Vantix Partners could help
Vantix Partners helps organisations navigate a complex and unpredictable world with confidence. We strengthen judgement, deepen teamwork, and realise efficiencies across your business.
Our network of experts is drawn from the worlds of intelligence, business, and academia to ensure we always provide you with human experience as well as top-level expertise.
As a partner for a business as they seek to exploit the opportunities of AI safely and securely, we can help understand the wider context, build a common view of the threats and opportunities across the executive team and business, and set a risk appetite for AI adoption based on that shared vision.
Strategic AI governance review
An external expert review of your approach to AI risk governance, including people, process, and technology. This allows you to ensure you have your risk appetite well calibrated, understood, and applied across the business.
Benchmarking your approach against that of others in your industry, sector, or jurisdiction.
AI scenario sessions for the executive team
Explore potential implications of AI adoption to the business with the executive team using a tailored scenario exploration led by experts in AI risk and adoption.
Detailed multi-disciplinary approach brings to life how AI affects each role and person differently and builds a common picture which informs the adoption of a shared risk appetite.
Ongoing light-touch scenario planning across the business
Understand how AI is really being used across the business and what risks and opportunities teams outside the executive perceive. Use that insight to drive targeted adoption and ROI.
Scenario sessions drive understanding of the risks and the reasons for AI usage policies across the business. Build consent and active participation in safe AI practices.