AI ‘can be a governance enabler’ for company secretaries

Gary Gray of Pinsent Masons, a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute and adviser on corporate governance and company secretarial matters, said the results of a recent survey highlight the opportunities company secretaries – and boards more generally – have to use AI within governance processes, providing sufficient oversight is exercised.

Board Intelligence surveyed more than 400 non-executive directors, chief executives and chief financial officers from companies with over £50 million in turnover across the UK, US, Nordics, and Middle East. The survey identified the widespread debate board members are having about which decisions should remain human-led versus AI-led, as well as broad concerns that “overly rigid or inconsistent decision-making frameworks” are contributing to delayed, rushed, or poor decision-making.

According to the survey, decision-making frameworks or processes (34%), clarity of roles and responsibilities between boards, executives and committees (32%), and the quality of information provided to the board (29%) were cited as the biggest obstacles to faster, more effective decision-making in the boardroom. However, just 8% of respondents believe boards will need to be completely reimagined to account for AI: 40% believe there will be either no meaningful change (8%) or only minor adjustments (32%) to how boards themselves operate over the next five years.

Gray said the survey results suggest the potential of AI to support board-level activities and good corporate governance is not fully recognised.

“If AI is used well, company secretaries should have more time to focus on improving governance, supporting better board decision-making, managing risk and ensuring the right information reaches directors at the right time, however it is important to exercise caution,” Gray said

“There are important governance tasks that are the responsibility of a company secretary to perform or enable. AI can help accelerate governance processes, but it doesn’t replace governance judgement – it makes strong governance frameworks and expert oversight more important, not less. The effective use of AI within a defined governance framework and supported by clear review and escalation processes, can support company secretaries in the delivery of strong governance outcomes whilst providing effective guidelines for the use of AI in the governance environment,” he added.

Gray said company secretaries should start by considering which of their tasks are most resource-intensive and process-driven, to identify opportunities for AI to create capacity.

One practical example might be to use AI to support with meeting agenda planning, to ensure adequate time is allocated to discussion of priority business items, Gray said. AI can also help company secretaries make board packs more useful by distilling lengthy papers into clear summaries focused on the important points for directors to digest, he added.

Company secretaries might also use AI to support the production of draft minutes of board meetings, Gray said, highlighting how this can enable a record of matters discussed and actions approved to be prepared. The human element does, however, continue to be important, since the ability for AI to understand nuance remains a challenge, meaning care still needs to be taken to cross-check what is produced for accuracy before minutes are circulated or shared with the board.

According to Gray, AI can also support company secretaries with statutory filings and reporting.

“AI can help companies interpret data to support the generation of annual reports, making these more accessible by producing summaries that draw out key themes and provide some narrative, whether around strategy, performance and risk or the fulfilment of directors’ duties, or on non-financial disclosures that are being increasingly mandated, such as around ESG and diversity data,” Gray said. “A risk, though, is that by leaning on AI-generated content, company secretaries import information of a generic nature into those reports that may not fully or accurately reflect risks or issues the business faces in its specific operations. This highlights the need for human oversight of AI output and for company secretaries to apply their own professional judgement.”

Gray said company secretaries will get the most from AI tools if they embrace opportunities to build their own AI literacy.

“Company secretaries do not need to become technologists, but they do need to understand what tools are available to them and how to use them in a responsible way,” Gray said. “One skill that is particularly worthwhile developing is that of prompting – by asking the right questions and setting the AI the right instructions, company secretaries stand to maximise the benefits they can obtain from use of the technology.”

Editor's Note 25/06/2026: The headline and article were updated post-publication to reflect additional commentary.