The Adults in the AI Room

When people predict that AI will destroy jobs, I think of auditors. There will be a lot of work for the people who review the forensics of algorithmic entities. The European Union’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) will mandate that all high-risk AI applications — which includes many AI applications — must be audited to guard against harm to human beings.

Even without the AIA, there is a great need for auditors. There will be legal liabilities. There will be much call for review of AI systems, and not much knowledge of how to do it. Financial professionals will learn to audit tech. Tech specialists may learn to audit.

Liz Sweigart, a writer on mental health, economics, accounting, and many other subjects, refers to auditors as “the adults in the room.” They don’t always get the recognition they deserve for their curiosity and broad acumen. Now, with AI, they may come into their own.

This will be a similar shift in culture to the change that took place in Financial Services starting in the 1980s. By the time Sarbanes-Oxley was passed (after Enron), the rules of banking — and, more importantly, the culture of banking — were not the same.

There are now “independence” rules in place in finance, for example, to prohibit those auditing firms from working for their clients in any other capacity. It took the Big 4 accounting firms years to adjust. In many tech companies, accustomed to fail-fast blitzscaling, the cultural and operational shock would be intense.

Government use of AI should be audited as well, Otherwise, as Plutarch might have asked, who will watch the watchrobots?

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