AI Is Everywhere—But Is It Actually Helping?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is in everything these days. It’s summarizing emails, generating reports, and taking notes at meetings. Even in GRC, AI is showing up in more tools, often with bold claims about automation, intelligence, and efficiency.
Some of these advancements are genuinely exciting. AI has the potential to streamline workflows, surface insights, and support decision-making in ways we’ve never seen before. But with AI hype at full volume, it’s getting harder to tell which features actually move the needle and which are just there for show.
With so many AI-powered tools hitting the market, it’s worth asking: Are these advancements actually useful, or just AI for AI’s sake?
The Two Types of AI Products
The rush to integrate AI into everything has created two categories of AI products. The first incorporates the new technology to fundamentally improve the offering, while the other just bolts it on to appear more advanced.
This distinction could make or break your GRC program. AI has the potential to find hidden patterns in GRC data, flag emerging risks before humans can catch them, and help teams make truly data-driven decisions. But it can also be a black-box feature that adds complexity without real value—or worse, one that automates processes in a way that undermines trust, transparency, and accountability.
That’s a real concern for many GRC professionals, whose number one obstacle to achieving program maturity was GRC tools and technology limitations.
It’s not enough that a product advertises AI features. As someone responsible for your organization’s risk posture, you need to look closely at what those AI features really do and whether they make a meaningful difference.
How to Tell if AI Features are Worth Your Time
It’s easy to assume that if a product has AI, it must be smarter, faster, or more advanced. But that’s not always the case. Some AI features make a real impact on how products operate, while others are just thrown in for the sake of marketing.
To tell the difference, look beyond the AI label and ask: What is this actually improving? Make sure to consider:
- Performance: Does the AI solve a real problem, or does it just generate impressive-looking outputs?
- Limitations: No AI is perfect. Does the vendor acknowledge technical constraints or act like it’s magic?
- Safeguards: What happens when the AI gets something wrong? Are there fail-safes in place, or does it make unchecked decisions?
- Transparency: Can you see how the AI reaches conclusions, or is it a black box? Could you explain its logic to an auditor?
- Pricing: Are you paying for AI that adds real value or just funding a high-tech rebrand?
If a vendor can’t convincingly answer these questions, the product’s AI might be more of a selling point than a solution.
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If You Can’t See How It Works, Don’t Trust It for GRC
AI that operates in a black box simply won’t do for GRC, where decisions need to be explainable, defensible, and rooted in accountability. If a system can’t show its work, how can you trust it to support critical GRC decisions?
AI should make things clearer, not more opaque. These qualities are deal-breakers for AI for GRC:
- Explainability: Can users understand how the AI reaches conclusions, or is it a mystery even to the vendor?
- Auditability: If an auditor, regulator, or internal stakeholder asks for an explanation of an AI-driven decision, can you provide a satisfactory answer?
- Human Oversight: Does the AI work alongside GRC teams, providing insights they can validate? Or does it attempt to automate decisions without review?
Never let AI control decisions that need GRC expertise. At the end of the day, AI is still a tool, not a teammate. It should enhance human judgment, not replace or override it.
To Get AI Right, Stay Focused on Your GRC Goals
AI is poised to reshape GRC, but not every AI-powered feature is worth your time. The real test isn’t whether a tool “has” AI; it’s whether its AI capabilities measurably serve your goals.
Before adopting AI, ask: What problem are we solving? If a feature doesn’t make your compliance more effective, improve how you measure and reduce risk, or provide insights you couldn’t get otherwise, it’s just a distraction.
65% of GRC leaders see automating risk management as a necessary cost of business today.1 But AI shouldn’t just automate; it should make automation smarter, surfacing the right insights at the right time instead of just stepping on the gas.
A good AI-powered tool should:
✅ Deliver transparent, auditable outputs that GRC professionals and auditors can trust
✅ Augment your team’s decision-making with explainable, context-aware insights
✅ Integrate seamlessly with your compliance processes while surfacing new insights you couldn’t get before
GRC has always been grounded in making the most informed, responsible decisions for your business. AI can be part of that, but only if it’s built—and marketed—with the same integrity.
1 Anecdotes original research, December 2024
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