Generic AI is becoming a catalyst for change in the corporate world, and beyond high-tech circles influence decision-making and governance at the highest levels. The boardroom, often defined by tradition and attention, is currently experimenting with genai to improve surveillance, streamline processes and enhance strategic insights. However, in some cases, organizations may be experimenting with this new technology in ways that open up according to risk.
Latest Director Confidence Index (DCI, September 2025) Votes from a hardworking Institute Corporate Board Membersa focus group style study of the choice groups of directors in US public companies, shows that AI is gaining traction in some boardrooms. Results show that only 2% of the boards surveyed eliminated the use of AI in board activities and emphasized the experimental level and openness of governance technology.
This trend encourages important questions. How often do directors use AI, which systems are they using, and what systems do they use for which board tasks?
From careful experiments to more frequent use
A group of directors of public US companies view AI adoption and advances overwhelmingly as the most important strategic opportunities in today's business environment. An impressive 64% of boards surveyed chose AI as their biggest business priority, outperforming other options such as mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships (58%), supply chain diversification (36%) and portfolio restructuring (32%).
This consensus shows a shift in the boardroom's focus to leverage AI to promote competitive advantage, change and resilience. In comparison, traditionally well-known priorities such as capital strategies (29%), labor strategies (15%) and international expansion (14%) all fell considerably behind AI in the board's strategic agenda.
Our findings show that two-thirds of the boards surveyed use AI on boards with a certain ability, from “putting their hands on” to using technology regularly. Approximately one-third of respondents said they were open to using Genai on boards.
DCI in September 2025 shows that the majority of the boards surveyed are currently experimenting with AI or using boardwork regularly, representing a noticeable acceleration just two years ago. In May 2023, only 44% of board members of US public companies reported that the organization uses AI in all capabilities on the Director's Trust Index, while a further 32% said the company is “working to do so in the short term.” At that point, use cases tended to focus on customer-facing operations (47% of those using AI) and external content generation (23%).
However, board-specific recruitment was still in its early stages. Thirty-seven percent of directors at the time believed that AI could support the board's decisions, while 26 percent believed that AI had “no role” in governance. Only 15% felt that they were well-informed about the risks and opportunities of AI, with about half describing the board as “increasingly debating” the topic. Meanwhile, 31% reported catching up in search of AI education.
How does the director use AI?
The survey revealed that directors use AI in many ways for board work, including the most popular option (50% of directors) to use genai to meet their preparation. Meanwhile, 39% said they used Genai for their intelligence summary and 26% for their benchmarks.
Only 13% use the technology for more sophisticated and strategic purposes, such as predictive analytics and real-time risk monitoring. Will this change in the future? Samantha Kappagoda, independent director of Credit Suisse Funds, is heavy: “Because the generation AI is evolving so quickly, it is reasonable to expect board directors to continue to expand beyond their current use.
Gibson Dunn of Keith Enright, AI, and Data Privacy Leader reflects these findings. “These numbers raise more questions than answers. If the board director says they are using AI for preparation or intelligence summary, then given that the majority of companies are not able to use AI tools right now, what are they using AI to use AI? What's not happening here? What's not happening here?”
Open source AI systems drive ingestion, but can pose a risk of governance
The broad use of Genai's growth in the boardroom is pleading to use an AI platform using the Director. Our findings show that open source options such as ChatGpt and Gemini seem to be the most popular, with 46% of directors saying they used AI reporting for these tools.
Enright explains the potential risks of directors using free consumer-oriented Genai tools not provided by the organization. “You could get a 700-page board packet, throw it away in ChatGPT, and ask them to read the plane to the board meeting, asking for a five-page summary.
He continues, “If the board director uses the free or consumer version of the AI service.sthere are many legal risks to consider. They may risk accidentally waive the privileges of lawyers and clients. They may unconsciously share their sensitive, confidential company information with their third party service providers without proper legal protection. ”
What is the solution? “One of the mitigations that sophisticated companies are already implementing is creating specific AI tools that can be used by boards to ensure that appropriate security management, licensing and contract protections are introduced into these tools,” Enlight said.
Despite the rise in adoption, board-level monitoring and governance for AI has lagged behind the level of enthusiasm for its use. As of May 2023, only 15% of corporate directors felt they were “informed” about the risks of AI. 2023[1] and 2024[2] What the director thinks The report highlighted similar skills and information gaps. Digital innovation and cybersecurity were consistently ranked as two issues that the top two areas felt the most difficult to oversee, and are seeking the most education and guidance. Many boards relied on exaltation as external experts and stopgaps.
In the latest survey, only 22% have adopted formal AI governance, ethics, or risk policies, and 31% have discussed it, but they have not yet implemented the policy. I learned it in 2025[3] The director's edition, which believes 80% of the boards surveyed said that the organization was taking some action on AI, states there is likely a big gap between AI use and policies governing its use, both at the company-wide level.
“It would be wise for directors to question the technology adoption policies of companies that manage the use of generated AI in today's hybrid work environment,” says Kappagoda. “This should span the secure deployment of employer-owned electronics at work, personal devices at work, home employer-owned devices (with or without VPN deployment), and personal devices at home.
“With an extension of the company's technology adoption policy, directors should consider policies governing the use of the board of directors of generation AI, including which systems (open, closed, board platform, etc.) and for what purposes.
These initial findings offer an attractive glimpse into the evolving landscape of AI adoption by boardroom directors. The scope of approaches, use cases and systems highlights both the complexity and importance of this topic. Clearly, as directors, businesses and governance experts continue to transform governance practices, there is an opportunity for directors, companies, and governance experts to dig deeper into the frameworks that guide the responsible use of generated AI.
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Acknowledgments
Keith Enlight
Keith Enright is a partner in Gibson Dunn's Palo Alto office and is co-chair of both the company's Technology and Innovation Industry Group and Artificial Intelligence Practice Group. With over 20 years of experience in privacy, artificial intelligence and senior legal executives, including over 13 years as Google's Chief Privacy Officer, we provide our clients with unparalleled attorneys in privacy, AI governance, consumer protection, compliance and data protection. Lawdragon has appointed him as the 2025 leading AI & Legal Tech Advisors list and 500 leading global cyber lawyer guide. At Google, Keith led the legal functions of global privacy and consumer protection, managing teams in the US, Europe and Asia. He worked with policymakers around the world, including the US Congress, the FTC, the state attorney general and international data protection authorities. Before Google, he served in senior privacy roles at two Fortune 500 companies, serving as legal advisor to an ad technology company and working as a global privacy consultant. Keith is responsible for the boards for Zoominfo and Decode, and previously served the IAPP board. He is also active in the Privacy Forum's Future and Information Policy Leadership Centre. A frequent speaker at major universities and industry events, Keith holds a bachelor's degree in JD and UMass Amherst from George Washington University.
Samantha Kappagoda
Samantha Kappagoda is an independent director, nomination chair of the Credit Suisse Fund, currently a member of the UBS (NYSE:UBS), the Business Committee of the University of Toronto, and a visiting scholar at the NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Samantha contributes to boardroom discourse by leveraging data and analytics to promote ROI and mitigating risks as a data scientist/entrepreneur, economist/capital market expert. She is a veteran leader with over 25 years of global experience across data analytics, digital transformation, financial management, risk governance and strategy. Recognised as Director and Director of Board Magazine, Samantha is a frequent speaker in the US, Canada and the UK on topics of governance, including AI and data governance, cybersecurity, global economic trends, and financial market volatility. Her contributions to the governance discussion include authoring AI Board Governance and Director & Board's new technology and as a contributor to the implementation of NACD Director Essential: AI Governance.
[1] Directors in 2023 believe it was carried out in collaboration with corporate board members.
[2] Directors in 2024 are those who believe it was carried out in collaboration with corporate board members and BDOs.
[3] The 2025 edition of What Directors Theing was conducted in collaboration with Corporate Board members and FTI Consulting.
