The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that in 2017, Volkswagen's then-chief executive officer cited a culture of excessive deference to authority as a factor behind its staff designing its vehicles to evade U.S. emissions standards. Guest columnists Douglas Sarro and Ed Waitzer write that is just one of many examples of corporate culture that leads to risky outcomes. Such problems are only likely to get worse, as artificial intelligence accelerates the speed of more and more spheres of corporate decision-making, making culture and compliance problems even more difficult for part-time boards to detect and act on before it's too late. Our board oversight model is no longer fit for purpose. Boards are increasingly sampling data that is below the rate of change. The surest way for boards to meet this challenge is by leveraging AI themselves. For example, earlier this year, Lloyd's Banking started using a "board bot" to help board members prepare for meetings and check for bias in decision-making. Directors will not need to become AI experts, but they should be comfortable evaluating processes that are designed to surface AI risks early and that define their own responsible use of AI in discharging their duties.
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