Bringing AI to the Boardroom: From Buzzword to Practice

By: Maria Victoria A. Betita, MICD

Member, Institute of Corporate Directors

Corporate Strategist and Digital Transformation Practitioner

This isn’t another AI-is-the-future piece. You’ve read that one. Probably more than once. This is about now—how board members can use AI today: practically, strategically, and without needing a data science degree (or a 22-year-old intern).

AI isn’t new—it’s just having a very loud moment. The AI universe includes everything from the recommendation algorithms on Netflix to the fraud detection systems at your bank. Machine learning has been around and even generative AI isn’t as fresh as it seems (GPT-3, the predecessor to today’s models, launched back in 2020). What’s different now is accessibility—what used to be buried in research labs is now sitting in your inbox, your search engine, and your PowerPoint slides.

The rise of generative AI and advancements in natural language processing (NLP) have made it noticeably more useful. No longer just running in the background, it has stepped into everyday workflows, making itself harder to ignore. What’s interesting for us is figuring out where it fits into the board’s rhythm—prep, meetings, oversight, and yes, ethics.

The Toolkit That Earned a Seat at My Table

Let’s start with something practical—tools. I rotate between a few AI tools depending on what I need to get done. I wouldn’t call them magical, but they’re reliable enough—like a smart colleague who’s helpful most of the time but occasionally says something flawed.

NotebookLM: Think of it as a smart research assistant who reads what you send them. It lets you upload your own documents (notes, reports, even random PDFs you’ve been meaning to get to), and then asks intelligent questions based on your own content. No guessing, no hallucinating. It also lets you search across everything you’ve uploaded— basically, a CTRL+F for your knowledge base. You can even transform your notes into summaries, FAQs, outlines... and yes, if reading feels like too much, there's a podcast mode where it reads your notes back to you. Equal parts productive and oddly soothing.
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot: I use these interchangeably depending on which one is behaving that day. Copilot integrates neatly with Office (useful for PowerPoint and Word), Gemini is snappy for brainstorming, and ChatGPT is my go-to when I need organized thoughts with many layers.
Perplexity: This is what I use when I want to quote actual articles or research. It provides sources, which is helpful when you want to sound informed without appearing to have made it up.
Quillbot: Excellent for paraphrasing my own rough drafts, and I also run text through it to see how much was likely AI-generated. A reality check when I’m blending my voice with machine assistance. I ran this article through it by the way – not that it should matter.
Otter AI and Read AI: Meeting summarization without the manual notetaking. Not perfect, but they capture enough to ensure follow-ups don’t fall through the cracks.
SlideGPT and Copilot for Presentations: They won’t replace a good deck designer anytime soon, but they help draft my speaker notes or frame a rough outline. If I need polish, I still go manual—but they do save time.

Most of these have free versions—except Copilot, which is Microsoft’s enterprise-grade tool. Worth it if you’re deep into that ecosystem.

What’s AI Actually Good for at Board Level?

Let’s break it down:

Prep Work: AI tools can streamline board meeting preparation by summarizing lengthy documents, highlighting key points, and spotting inconsistencies. There are some platforms out there that’s made for Board functions specifically - for example, Diligent Boards AI (which I have not personally tried) -- which offer features that condense complex materials into actionable insights and prepare targeted questions for meetings. This allows directors to focus more on strategic discussions rather than getting bogged down in extensive reading. A word of caution: it's essential to balance efficiency with due diligence; AI should complement, not replace, a director's thorough review of materials. Additionally, always ensure that sensitive information is handled within secure, enterprise-level AI environments to maintain confidentiality.
Curating Intelligence: Want to know what regulators are up to in a specific sector? Or track how a competitor is positioning its AI strategy? Tools like Feedly (paired with AI) or Perplexity help filter the noise and bring in just the right level of context.
Note-Taking & Meeting Summaries: I rarely worry about capturing every word in a meeting anymore. With Otter or Read AI running, I can focus on listening—and circle back to the summary later to ensure action items don’t get lost.
Strategic Exploration: I’ve asked AI to simulate competitor reactions or explore “what-if” scenarios around new markets. Are the results perfect? No. But they trigger good questions—which is sometimes more valuable than a polished answer.

Where AI Fits in the Board’s Bigger Agenda

Beyond the time-saving bits, there’s a strategic layer that’s emerging:

AI is a business lever. It’s not just an IT thing anymore. AI is not for techies. Boards should be asking: How is management using AI across the value chain? Where are the risks? Where’s the upside?
It’s also a cultural signal. Are we experimenting? Are we learning fast? Boards don’t need to run pilots—but we should know whether the organization is stuck in fear or leaning into responsible innovation.
And it’s definitely a governance issue. Who approves AI deployments? How do we manage transparency, bias, and unintended consequences? These are oversight questions now.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

Let’s skip the policy language and keep it real:

These tools sometimes hallucinate—especially when asked confidently. Just because it sounds right doesn’t mean it is right. Always verify the facts.
They’re only as smart as the material you give them (and the questions you ask). Garbage in, garbage out still applies—only faster.
Uploading confidential documents into a free AI tool? Not your best moment. Use enterprise or private instances for anything sensitive. Assume public by default unless you’re sure otherwise.

Treat AI like a sharp intern: useful, fast, but not ready to run the show without supervision.

And Yes—The Ethics Bit Still Matters

AI ethics doesn’t need to be a TED Talk. But a few practical checks go a long way:

Transparency: Do we know how decisions are being made by the AI tools in our business? Can someone explain it clearly to the board?
Bias & Fairness: Who’s testing the systems for unintended consequences? AI isn’t neutral by default—someone has to check.
Accountability: If something goes wrong, who’s responsible? If AI recommends a course of action and a human approves it, where does the buck stop?
Data Governance: Are we using data ethically, not just legally? That’s not a compliance- only question. It’s a reputational one too.

At board level, these aren't just operational risks—they're trust risks.

Wrapping It Up: What AI Can—and Can’t—Do

AI won’t replace board judgment. It won’t challenge a shaky assumption in a forecast or detect body language in a tense meeting. But it will help you:

Think faster
Spot blind spots
Ask sharper questions
Save hours in prep and post-meeting follow-ups

And for that, it deserves more than just a slide in the CIO’s quarterly update. It deserves a seat at the table—not as a director, but as a tool that helps directors stay ahead.

If you’ve been curious, try any of the tools above. Don’t worry about mastering them. Just start small. Use them to help you think.

Because better thinking? That’s still the board’s biggest job.

Disclaimer: Vicky is not an AI expert, futurist, or tech evangelist. Just a practical user who likes tools that actually work and doesn’t have time for the ones that don’t. When not sitting through meetings, enjoying time with her family, or reading long reports, she’s quietly testing out AI tools to make thinking (and life) a little easier.