AI is no longer a future consideration for boards but very much a current concern. According to speakers at Governance Intelligence’s briefing – AI in the boardroom: what governance teams need to know in 2026 – held in partnership withDiligent, the technology is already embedded in boardroom behavior.
The speakers agreed that the real risk for governance professionals heading into 2026 is not misuse, but inaction.
From the outset, the most striking takeaway was the pace of change. Nithya Das, general manager, governance andchief legal officer at Diligent and a board member herself, emphasized how dramatically the conversation has shifted in just a matter of months. What began as experimentation and limited pilots has rapidly moved into full adoption. Across more than 25,000 organizations, legal and governance teams are now under growing pressure from CEOs and boards to show tangible results from AI, not just curiosity or exploration. Efficiency gains, workflow integration and measurable outcomes are increasingly expected.
That shift is reflected in how directors are already using AI today. Dottie Schindlinger, executive director of the Diligent Institute, shared research showing that 64 percent of US public company directors are using AI in some form to support their board work. More concerning is that 42 percent of those directors are relying on free, consumer-grade tools. While the motivation is understandable – summarizing lengthy board materials, preparing for meetings and identifying key discussion points – the risks are significant. Uploading sensitive board documents into public models can unintentionally expose confidential information and train external systems.
Dottie Schindlinger,executive director of the Diligent Institute during the online briefing
Yet both speakers were clear-eyed about the current situation. Directors will use AI whether governance teams sanction it or not, which makes proactive engagement essential. As Schindlinger put it: ‘Governance professionals have an opportunity to get ahead of the risk by providing secure tools, clear policies and targeted training rather than reacting after problems arise.’
Importantly, the conversation has already moved beyond basic summarization. Das described summarization as ‘table stakes.’ Boards are now exploring how AI can help them become more informed and proactive. That includes benchmarking performance against peers, tracking commitments over time and using natural language search to surface insights across years of board materials. On the governance team side, AI is increasingly replacing manual work such as drafting summaries, building reports and preparing minutes.
Looking ahead, both speakers pointed to a more transformative use case: scenario planning. Traditional approaches built around static playbooks are no longer sufficient in a world where assumptions change rapidly. Schindlinger noted that directors now need ‘a compass rather than a map.’ AI excels at generating data-informed scenarios, challenging assumptions and helping boards think through what might happen next. This capability, more than efficiency gains, is where many directors see the greatest strategic value.
The most provocative part of the discussion centered on liability. Das reframed the question facing boards. In 2025, the concern was liability from using AI incorrectly. In 2026, the larger question may be liability from not using AI at all. With trusted, secure AI tools available, boards that fail to leverage them for research, scenario analysis and decision support could be seen as falling short of their duty of care. As Das warned: ‘Human oversight remains critical but ignoring available tools may itself become a governance risk.’
Nithya Das, general manager, governance andchief legal officer at Diligent during the online briefing
Schindlinger reinforced that this expectation is no longer theoretical. Proxy advisors and institutional investors are now explicitly asking boards to demonstrate AI oversight. They want to know ‘who on the board understands AI, how it is governed and how often it is discussed.’ In her view, shareholder scrutiny around AI underuse or misuse is not a question of if, but when.
Practical guardrails were a recurring theme. Both speakers stressed the need for intentionality. They advised governance teams to start by asking how AI is already being used, ensure secure enterprise-grade tools are available, provide training and establish clear AI usage policies that explain what is acceptable and why. AI governance, Schindlinger argued, is quickly becoming ‘as fundamental as cyber-security oversight was a decade ago.’
The message to governance professionals was ultimately pragmatic rather than alarmist. AI is already in the boardroom. The choice is whether boards engage with it responsibly or allow it to shape decisions by default, or, as Das put it ‘your board is already thinking about AI, get ahead of it.’
To watch the full briefing ‘AI in the boardroom: what governance teams need to know in 2026’ on demand,click here.