AI Adoption Requires Solid Compliance Teams

AI has the potential to help you streamline workflows and provide employees with valuable tools. However, there is also a litany of risks. Managing those risks often falls to compliance and risk teams, who play a major role in ensuring AI adoption grants the maximum benefits with minimal drawbacks. A recent Debevoise & Plimpton memo gives tips for implementing AI systems, including how to leverage your compliance team to manage risks:

“The risks associated with adopting AI (e.g., cybersecurity, privacy, bias, regulatory compliance, quality control) are real. But those are reasons to adopt AI thoughtfully and gradually, not reasons to forego AI adoption entirely. In the absence of a clear legal prohibition, creativity from legal, compliance and risk teams allows them to evaluate the actual (not hypothetical) risks of particular use cases, identify ways to lower those risks without significantly undermining the value of the use case and then balance those risks against the upside of the use case and the downside of off-platform AI use.”

A good compliance team is at the heart of smooth AI integration. The legal risks stemming from AI are varied, including cybersecurity, privacy, equal employment opportunity, and intellectual property. A well-rounded team can spot issues, not only in emerging AI regulation, but in traditional areas of law. Viewpoint diversity ensures that risks are managed from all angles. Companies can’t eliminate every AI risk, but their compliance team can track, manage, and mitigate the bulk of them.