Companies fall behind on AI policies and training

Only 15 percent of organisations have AI policies with 40 percent of organisations providing no AI training at all, according to the latest findings from ISACA. 

The global professional association and learning organisation recently undertook a pulse poll of 3270 digital trust professionals across the globe. 

Findings also discovered 70 percent of poll respondents said employees are already using AI, and 60 percent said employees are using generative AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The most common AI use cases identified in the poll are increasing productivity at 35 percent, automating repetitive tasks coming in at 33 percent and creating written content at 33 percent. 

AI and Australia 

Jo Stewart-Rattray, ISACA Oceania Ambassador told Digital Nation, "Businesses in Australia need to understand the risks around using AI and the potential bias within algorithms which may not be appropriate given the context of the business.  

“Education in this space is extremely important as businesses need to know what the introduction of AI into their environments means for them. 

“They need to understand the consequences for them and indeed what may happen to the data that is being ingested in order for AI to do the job it is being asked to do," Stewart-Rattray said. 

Risk assessment on all new technologies including vendors of the technologies should be undertaken before the introduction of any new technology into businesses, according to Stewart-Rattray. 

“It is not necessarily about staying ahead of emerging technology but rather understanding whether the emerging technology is relevant to the business - and the benefits, risks and rewards should be seriously considered." 

Another findings in the report also found 60 percent of respondents are ‘worried’ or ‘very worried’ that bad actors will exploit generative AI and 81 percent noted the top AI risk is misinformation/disinformation.

Despite the concerns, findings showed only 35 percent say AI risks are an immediate priority for their organisation.

Another 45 percent believe roles will be eliminated over the next five years due to AI and 80 percent said most roles will adapt to AI. 

Those who remain optimistic about jobs worked in the digital trust professional space such as information security, governance, risk and privacy as 78 percent believe AI will have a ‘neutral’ or ‘positive’ impact on their careers.

The poll also found 85 percent said they will need to increase their AI skills and knowledge within two years.

Shannon Donahue, ISACA chief content and publishing officer said, "AI is moving at a speed we haven’t seen before, with its use in organizations outpacing the policies, training and skills that are absolutely critical for making sure it is used securely,” 

“AI is quickly becoming a business imperative, and ISACA is fully committed to providing the tools, resources and training to help individuals and enterprises thrive in an AI world.”