Trust is the foundation of AI transformation. Do you have the right controls and processes to lead with confidence?
Learn how finance and audit leaders can drive trustworthy AI adoption, bridge the gap between employee use and organizational oversight, and implement robust controls for long-term success.
Key takeaways
- Trust is essential for successful AI adoption in Canada, where skepticism and slower implementation remain challenges.
- Finance and audit leaders ensure responsible AI use by applying their expertise in risk management, controls, and governance.
- Organizations can unlock AI’s value and reduce risks through collaboration, Deloitte’s Trustworthy AI Framework, and clear controls.
Trust is the foundation of every successful artificial intelligence (AI) transformation. As AI’s capabilities advance at an unprecedented pace, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), Chief Audit Executives (CAEs), and boards of directors face a crucial question: are you ready to lead with confidence?
While AI offers impressive opportunities for efficiency and growth, it also demands thoughtful oversight and the right guardrails that do not stifle innovation or slow progress. Fortunately, finance and audit professionals are uniquely equipped for this challenge. Finance and audit teams are built for trust. They source evidence, scrutinize every detail, and ensure standards are met at the highest level. By combining deep audit knowledge with emerging technology skills, organizations can approach AI adoption with confidence.
Building and verifying trust is essential for adopting AI, capitalizing on your ROI, and protecting your reputation. By designing with the end in mind, organizations can strengthen trust across all lines of defense.
Why trust matters in Canada
In Canada, we’re seeing a slower pace of AI adoption compared to global peers. Despite forecasts that widespread AI use could boost our GDP by up to 8% in the next decade, only 26% of Canadian organizations have implemented AI—well behind the 34% global average.1
What’s holding Canadian organizations back?
Trust may be a key factor. Recent surveys show only 31% of Canadians trust AI, nearly 20% lower than the global average. More than half of Canadians say they “reject” AI, while just 17% are ready to embrace it.2
Canada’s ranking in the Global AI Index, a report that ranks countries based on levels of AI investment, innovation, and implementation, fell from 4th in 2021 to 8th in 2024, reflecting this more cautious approach to AI adoption.3
Meanwhile, global events and evolving trade strategies are pushing Canadian organizations to adopt digital technologies (such as AI) while prioritizing data privacy and protection. Data residency is crucial because it ensures data is stored and processed within specific jurisdictions, helping organizations comply with local regulations and avoid having sensitive information subject to foreign government access or surveillance. This is particularly relevant in countries where data privacy laws and government intervention may raise concerns.
In this landscape, data sovereignty and stewardship for use in AI are more important than ever. CFOs, CAEs, and board members must do more than simply understand new AI technologies—they must also grasp the related strategies, impacts, and risks. For boards, this responsibility ties directly to their mandates of oversight, monitoring, and governance. It starts with trusting the underlying AI technology, as well as knowing where and how organizational data is protected.
Without trust, even the most advanced AI won’t get buy-in from your stakeholders. Technical, operational, and reputational risks can quickly overshadow the benefits if trust isn’t established from the start with the proper controls, processes, and guardrails. Without those in place, auditors will not be able to collect sufficient, appropriate audit evidence to support their conclusions—nor will process and control owners be able to confidently sign off on the effectiveness of those controls.
Here are three steps to help you stop worrying and embrace AI.
Build buy-in across your organization
Realizing AI’s ROI depends on trust and adoption at every level.
Investment in AI is rising: according to Deloitte’s 2025 survey, AI ROI: The paradox of rising investment and elusive returns, 85% of organizations increased their investment last year, and 91% plan to do so again.
Even in organizations that haven’t adopted AI, many employees are already using AI tools, often without formal approval.
This phenomenon is known as shadow AI.
Research around shadow AI by Canadian office workers paints a very different picture when compared to organizational hesitation and distrust of AI:
- 79% use AI tools
- Only 1 in 4 use enterprise-grade solutions
- 97% believe AI boosts productivity
- 46% would leave their job for a company that uses AI more effectively4
This gap between on-the-ground employee experience of shadow AI and organizational adoption signals a need for clearer guidance and more transparent processes. By demystifying AI and putting the right processes and controls in place, you can help your teams use AI confidently and ensure it does not introduce additional risks (like hallucinations, built-in biases, or unauthorized use of company data, etc.).
While it is clear employees are using AI, a significant portion of Canadian business leaders haven’t had meaningful, hands-on experience. One reason may be that ROI has remained elusive.
Deloitte created a comprehensive AI ROI Performance Index by combining four key business metrics into a single score:
- Direct financial return
- Revenue growth from AI
- Operational cost savings
- Speed of achieving these results
Only around one in five surveyed organizations qualify as true AI ROI Leaders, outperforming peers by treating AI as an enterprise transformation, embedding revenue-focused ROI discipline, and making early strategic bets on both generative and agentic AI.
Adopt a “collaborate but validate” mindset
When human teams work with AI, they combine professional judgment with machine efficiency. The ideal scenario is a “dream team” where AI generates insights and employees remain actively involved—validating outputs and applying their professional judgment. Meanwhile, controls and guardrails established by auditors and assurance teams operate in the background, ensuring AI is used effectively. This approach keeps humans in the loop, promotes reliable outcomes, and upholds trust in the use of AI.
Where should you begin? Start with Deloitte’s Trustworthy AI Framework. This approach covers everything from ethics and regulation to safety and security, helping your organization minimize risk and maximize AI’s value. With the right controls, guardrails, and training, you can adopt AI safely and securely.
Safeguard against risk
Like any new technology with the potential to upend and rewire industries and ways of working, AI requires proper guardrails. That’s where risks and controls come in.
Deloitte’s A new frontier in artificial intelligence outlines the implications of AI for businesses. Your organization should consider the following steps as you adopt AI for your business:
- Define your firm’s risk appetite for AI adoption and develop related policies, controls and procedures.
- Identify where AI could be used internally or by third parties such as clients, suppliers, or other key stakeholders.
- Determine whether AI presents any new or incremental risks or regulatory obligations to your firm.
- Assess the completeness and adequacy of the design of existing controls, including the requirement for additional policies and procedures.
- Remediate any control gaps identified to ensure risks associated with AI are adequately mitigated.
Understanding controls, risks, and governance are core skillsets that auditors bring to the table. Using this deep expertise to tackle the new risks presented by AI will help build trust in your company’s AI innovations.
How Deloitte can help
Trust is in our DNA. In Canada, where the ideal combination of AI expertise and audit and assurance skills is rare, Deloitte stands out with a legacy of assurance and a deep bench of AI specialists. Deloitte was recently named a Leader in Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Services by IDC MarketScape, reflecting our deep AI and assurance experience and global reach.
We help clients build, deploy, and govern AI solutions that inspire confidence. Our global network ensures you have access to the right knowledge, wherever and whenever you need it.
We also understand AI adoption varies, and CFOs, CAEs, and board members may have various levels of familiarity and confidence. Our goal is to guide your people to use AI effectively and responsibly.
Let’s get started together
Ready to build trust in your AI journey?
Let’s work together to unlock AI’s full potential—responsibly and securely, with the right controls and processes in place—so you can lead with confidence.
