4boards.ai: The Challenges of AI for Sustainable and Innovative Corporate Governance
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB - Teknikens Ekonomi och Organisation |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 1 956 085 |
| Project duration | November 2018 - January 2021 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Innovation management - research for increased innovation capability |
| Call | 2018-02185-en |
Important results from the project
It is predicted that artificial intelligence [Al], will become one of the greatest board issues within the next ten years. The findings of 4boards.ai indicate that boards will need to develop two competence areas to successfully steward firms into an Al-based future: 1. Guiding AI operational capability 2. Supervising AI governance capability We also created the Boards 4 Al Leadership Matrix which is a practical tool to facilitate the development of these competence areas and help on Al implementation.
Expected long term effects
The findings indicate that boards will need to develop two competence areas: [1] guiding Al operational capability and [2] supervising Al governance capability. These are further divided into three fields of action each: 1.1 Guiding the gathering, harvesting and analysis of big data, 1.2. Guiding an AI-driven innovation strategy, 1.3. Guiding the participation and growth in a business ecosystem 2.1 Supervising data management, ethics and black box decision-making, 2.2. Supervising AI cybersecurity, 2.3. Supervising business ecosystem.
Approach and implementation
4boards.ai was a two-year study based on extensive first-hand board work experience by one of the team members, a systematic review of academic and practitioner literature on corporate governance and Al implementation in industry, and a series of interviews with board members of leading multinationals and with global Al experts. The study was published in three publications and results were shared at several events targeting boards, such as board networks.