The Role of AI and Information Governance: Opportunities and Risks

As information management professionals, we deal with the continuous evolution of technologies that shape our industry, profession, and areas of practice. Today, AI stands as the latest "shiny new ball" in a long line of transformative technologies that promise to revolutionize how we handle information, identify opportunities, and manage risk.

The Evolving Technological Landscape

When we look at the industry shift expected over the next few years, AI is undoubtedly at the forefront of everyone's mind. However, it's important to recognize that AI is part of a larger trend of digital transformation that has been reshaping our information governance, information management, and data governance landscape for years.

Digital transformation has already brought significant changes through various specialized technologies — “fintech,” “marteck”, “agtech,” “healthtech” plus others — each bringing their own innovations and challenges. AI is simply the latest, most visible manifestation of this ongoing evolution.

The Fundamentals Remain Critical

Despite this rapid technological change, I've observed that the fundamentals of information governance, data governance, and information management remain not just relevant, but increasingly critical:

• Information quality and data quality are more important than ever
• Information governance and data governance must remain top priorities

Bad data and / or incomplete data inevitably leads to poor AI models that may result in biased or skewed outputs. As I often tell clients, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." The basics of good information management still apply today, because they are “table stakes.” In fact, the basics are more essential in today's complex landscape than before. Unfortunately, I see many organizations still ignoring the basics, and consequently, not managing the increasing risks.

Balancing Risks and Benefits

With AI, like any technology, comes a range of new risks that organizations must manage. Organizations need to understand where AI works well and where it doesn't. In other words, where do the benefits outweigh the risks?

Key risk areas include:

• Privacy
• Information management
• Information governance
• Data governance
• Data security
• Compliance
• Operations

As we look further into the future, these risks are becoming even more critical. As technology improves, it can do more for us, but it also introduces new vulnerabilities and challenges.

A Strategic Approach to AI Adoption

Your organizations must assess their AI implementation in the context of their own risk profile and risk appetite. The fundamental question remains: Where does a particular technology add value, and where does it not?

The most significant trends we're seeing involve not only the technologies, but also how senior management approaches governance of the technologies, and how users adopt the technologies. Organizations must take a thoughtful, deliberate approach to AI adoption that considers:

• The actual business case that management want to tackle
• The benefits the technology can realistically deliver
• The appropriate skills necessary to implement the technology
• The risks impeding user adoption when implementing the technology
• The challenges of transforming the organization to “scale up”
• The organization's capacity to manage increasing risks

Concluding Thoughts: Planning for Your AI Future

AI will continue to be a transformative force in information governance, information management, and data governance, but success will come to those who approach it with a clear-eyed view of both its potential benefits and its limitations. By focusing on the fundamentals while embracing innovation, organizations can navigate the complexities of an AI implementation while minimizing risk and maximizing return.