Futurologist, Ben Hammersley, engaged audit leaders on a mind-blowing journey into the not so futuristic environment that is rapidly becoming a reality for the organisations in which we work.
In chapter 2, Hammersley highlights artificial intelligence as a fundamental concern for internal auditors. The issue is two-fold: how to provide assurance over AI when it is beyond human comprehension and whether or not AI will make auditors obsolete. “Algorithms are only opinions, it’s one of the biggest social and technological issues of the 21st century and it is your problem” was his warning to delegates.
Here, Hammersley explores topics such as unconscious bias in relation to algorithm design using practical examples, and challenges internal audit on the provision of meaningful assurance of the results of AI. He argues that the future for auditors is in auditing culture as “technology above a certain level of sophistication is just people made faster” making much of today’s auditing obsolete.…