Being a board member is a hard job — ask anyone who has ever been one. Company directors have to understand the nature of the business, review documents, engage in meaningful conversation with CEOs, and give feedback while still maintaining positive relationships with management. These are all hard things to balance. But, normally, boards don’t have to get involved with individual operational projects, especially technical ones. In fact, a majority of boards have very few members who are comfortable with advanced technology, and this generally has little impact on the company.
The questions boards are going to have to ask themselves with regard to artificial intelligence are similar to those they would ask in the face of any large opportunity investment: Why are we spending all this money? What’s the economic benefit? How does it impact our people and our long-term competitiveness. Answering these questions requires expertise in technology. But you can’t just simply add a tech expert to the board and count on him or her to keep the rest of the board up to speed. Boards shouldn’t be intimidated by AI. Members don’t need to have degrees in computer engineering to understand the technology behind AI, just like they don’t need to be CPAs to understand the company’s balance sheet. When evaluating if a project is right for their company, boards should feel confident enough to say when something doesn’t make sense.