Artificial Intelligence and the Board of Directors: Leading the Future with Confidence and Vision
The AI Revolution in the Business World
The business world today is witnessing a radical transformation with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where artificial intelligence (AI) has become a central force embedded at the core of operations and businesses. Its ability to simulate human thinking in learning and reasoning makes it an essential tool for problem-solving and generating innovative insights.
AI represents a strategic pillar for the board of directors, as it serves as a key driver of growth and enhanced competitiveness. It helps increase revenues, reduce costs, and improve the quality of decision-making, while also uncovering new opportunities for expansion. Moreover, it enables business leaders to build stronger and more effective data-driven strategies, providing them with a decisive competitive advantage. Conversely, neglecting its adoption could mean losing the ability to compete and innovate, making investment in AI an indispensable strategic choice.
1. AI as a Tool for Supporting Strategic Decisions
Strategic decisions require precise insights based on reliable data. Here, AI plays a crucial role by analyzing vast amounts of information and transforming them into actionable insights, offering the board a strong foundation for making more accurate and effective decisions aligned with their strategic plans.
Through algorithms, AI can detect patterns, forecast revenues, and identify risks and future trends. It can also extract precise information from unstructured data, saving time and reducing the need for human intervention. This enhances the quality of financial and investment forecasts and helps achieve a better balance between risk and return.
Reports by Gartner indicate that AI-powered predictive analytics are among the most effective tools enabling companies to make better decisions, thus granting them a competitive edge [1]. Similarly, studies by McKinsey have shown that organizations using AI in strategic planning improved their ability to forecast market trends and consumer behavior, achieving up to 30% higher prediction accuracy and reducing forecast errors by as much as 50% [2][3].
2. Strengthening Governance and Compliance
Good governance and compliance with laws and regulations are fundamental pillars for institutional sustainability and stakeholder trust. However, the complexity of legislation and the multitude of regulatory requirements pose major challenges to boards of directors.
AI plays a pivotal role here by continuously monitoring compliance, analyzing regulatory and operational data, and enabling early risk detection through tracking warning indicators. It also produces accurate and transparent reports that enhance oversight and decision quality, while minimizing human bias and error in compliance and governance reviews.
Thus, AI becomes a strategic asset for the board, empowering it to perform its oversight role more efficiently and ensuring sustainable regulatory adherence. This, in turn, strengthens institutional trust and reduces legal and regulatory risks.
3. Enhancing the Efficiency of Board Meetings
Board meetings are the cornerstone of shaping strategic direction, yet they often consume excessive time and effort in administrative tasks rather than focusing on core discussions.
AI provides a transformative leap in this context by automating routine tasks and offering intelligent tools that enhance meeting efficiency and value. Its systems can record, transcribe, and summarize meetings instantly, turning notes into actionable tasks and distributing them effectively among members. It also helps manage priorities, detect delayed tasks, and propose optimal execution timelines, minimizing wasted time and improving organization.
A study by Harvard Business School revealed that teams using AI were three times more capable of producing innovative solutions, completed their tasks 25% faster, and achieved 40% higher quality compared to teams that did not use AI. Likewise, research by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis showed that using AI saved an average of 2.2 hours per week per employee, boosting hourly productivity by 33% [4][5].
Additionally, AI-powered intelligent reports improve meeting outcomes by automating pre-meeting preparations and providing executive summaries and ready-to-use insights, allowing members to focus on deep strategic discussions.
4. Global Trends in AI Adoption
The growing adoption of AI worldwide, especially in the Gulf region, demonstrates its importance as a strategic tool to enhance productivity and efficiency, without undermining the role of decision-makers.
Studies indicate that automating routine tasks reduces wasted time. In this regard, Gulf institutions have emerged as pioneers in adopting generative AI, with 75% of executives reporting that their companies have already launched AI initiatives, compared to only 26% globally [6].
Notably, the companies achieving tangible financial gains exceeding 5% of profits are the same ones adopting advanced implementation strategies [6]. PwC predicts that AI will contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 [7], while IDC estimates a cumulative impact of $22.3 trillion, with every $1 invested in AI generating around $4.9 in additional global economic value [8].
5. The Future of AI in Governance: Saudi Vision 2030
AI is becoming a major force in enhancing governance and efficiency, and its role is clearly reflected in Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to achieve economic diversification and innovation.
AI contributes to improving financial operations, data analysis, and generating accurate recommendations, raising decision quality and allowing human resources to focus on strategic tasks. According to a 2024 survey by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), 39% of government entities in the Kingdom are using or testing AI technologies, with 81% reporting a significant improvement in service quality [9].
The Saudi sector has also seen remarkable growth in AI research and funding, reaching $1.7 billion in investments in 2023 [10].
Conclusion
AI has become a key driver of digital transformation and competitiveness, especially in board meetings and strategic decision-making. It enables big data analysis, boosts efficiency, supports decision-making, and strengthens governance, making it an indispensable strategic asset.
When adopted responsibly and with awareness, AI empowers institutions to achieve sustainable growth, build strong stakeholder trust, and lead the future with clear vision and confidence.