Auditing used to be all about long hours, heaps of paperwork and a sharp eye for detail. While human judgment will always play a critical role, artificial intelligence (AI) has barged in like the ultimate multitasker, reshaping the way audits are conducted. Whether you’re an auditor or just curious about how businesses keep their books in check, AI is shaking things up in the auditing world. This topic was inspired by the Thomson Reuter’s article, “Navigating the new era of auditing with AI technology: Meet Audit Intelligence Analyze.”

Let’s face it—audits can be slow. Sifting through mountains of data is time-consuming. Enter AI, which can crunch numbers and scan documents at lightning speed. Tasks that might have taken days or weeks are now being done in hours. This doesn’t just save time—it means auditors can focus on the big-picture stuff instead of getting bogged down in repetitive grunt work.

Human error is a thing—nobody’s perfect. But AI? It’s designed to spot patterns and errors that even the most experienced auditors might overlook. By using machine learning, these systems get better over time, learning to detect irregularities and risks more effectively. The key words here are “over time”.

Auditing is no longer just about ticking boxes for compliance. With AI, audits provide richer, more actionable insights. Auditors can use AI to create predictive models, helping businesses understand trends and potential risks before they happen.

The biggest challenge is that most organizations have little knowledge on how AI systems make decisions and how to interpret AI and machine learning results. Explainable AI allows users to comprehend and trust the results and output created by machine learning algorithms. Explainable AI is used to describe an AI model, its expected impact and it potential biases. Why is this important? Because explainability becomes critical when the results can have an impact on data security or safety.

Melody K. Smith

Data Harmony is an award-winning semantic suite that leverages explainable AI.

Sponsored by Access Innovations, uniquely positioned to help you in your AI journey.