We are delighted to present our latest viewpoint for internal audit, providing insight into the increasing importance of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and what this means for organisations and internal audit’s role in navigating this hot topic.

AI has gained significant attention since 2023, both from organisations and policymakers, by demonstrating its ability to redefine work. The benefits of AI are broad and far reaching. Heightened focus has been given to Generative Artificial Intelligence (‘’GenAI’’) following the mass global interest in applications like Open AI’s ChatGPT. With the rapid acceleration and integration of GenAI into business functions, AI and accordingly GenAI risk management, will continue to be a priority for internal audit teams throughout 2024 and beyond.

Recent research by Deloitte shows that a third¹ (32%) or approximately 4 million people in the UK who have used GenAI have done so for work.

Internal audit functions will need to assess the risks and opportunities associated with GenAI. It is a balancing act, for example, looking at efficiencies gained through reduced manual effort, and the need to check and validate accuracy.

The attention given to GenAI and the investments being made means internal audit will need to engage and do so quickly.

As a firm we are taking the same journey as many of our clients, and we believe GenAI has the potential to transform the internal audit profession. We have already made significant investments in both our approach to assuring GenAI and supporting organisations in their use of these technologies.

In this thought piece we provide insight into the following areas:

• decoding the jargon: useful AI terminology to know
• the mechanics of GenAI
• what internal audit should be doing for their boards and audit committees
• accelerate the adoption of AI
• looking ahead – what next?

Download a copy of the report and if you would like to talk to our dedicated team of experts on the impact of GenAI on internal audit, please get in touch.