Advice & Resources, Industry Insight, Risk
By Oliver Cheshire, Senior Recruiter
– Last Updated: July 2026
In the conversations I have with internal audit, risk and assurance professionals, AI is rarely far from the agenda.
There is excitement about what it can do: helping teams get to insight faster, spot issues earlier and spend less time on repetitive tasks. But there is also a sensible degree of caution. People want to know what it means for their role, their team and the quality of assurance they provide.
That is exactly the right conversation to be having.
AI is changing risk assurance, but it is not making experienced professionals less important. If anything, it is making professional judgement, curiosity and the ability to challenge more valuable than ever.
Traditionally, much of internal audit has involved looking back: reviewing what happened, testing controls and reporting on findings once an issue has already occurred.
AI gives teams the opportunity to be more proactive.
By analysing large volumes of data, AI-enabled tools can help flag unusual patterns, potential control weaknesses and emerging risk indicators much earlier. That means risk assurance teams can spend less time simply documenting what went wrong and more time helping the business understand what could happen next.
AI can support this through:
For many teams, this is not about replacing what they already do. It is about giving good people better information, sooner.
The value of AI in risk assurance is often found in the practical, day-to-day work.
Rather than waiting for an audit cycle to uncover a potential issue, AI can help flag unusual activity as it emerges. This can support fraud detection, operational oversight and earlier investigation.
There will always be testing that needs human judgement. But where tasks are repeatable and high-volume, automation can free up valuable time for auditors to focus on exceptions, challenge management and investigate the areas that genuinely need attention.
AI can help bring together different sources of information to create a more current view of risk. For audit leaders, this can make planning more responsive and give boards and audit committees a clearer picture of where attention is needed.
Generative AI can help with early drafts, reviewing previous findings and organising risk information. It will not replace the final judgement or the conversation with stakeholders, but it can remove some of the administrative burden that often slows teams down.
One thing I hear consistently is that AI should be seen as a co-pilot, not a replacement.
An AI tool may highlight an unusual transaction or a possible control issue. But it takes an experienced assurance professional to ask the important questions: Is it genuinely a risk? What is driving it? Who needs to act? And what does it mean for the wider business?
Those are not purely technical questions. They require context, professional scepticism and the confidence to challenge.
The professionals who will be particularly valuable in this next phase are those who can:
You do not need to be a coder to succeed in this space. But being comfortable with data, technology and AI governance is becoming an increasingly useful part of the risk assurance toolkit.
Of course, AI is not just something for audit functions to use. It is also something they will need to assure.
As organisations introduce AI into more processes, risk teams will need to consider issues such as:
This is where strong risk and assurance professionals will continue to play a vital role. Businesses need people who can understand the technology well enough to ask challenging questions, without losing sight of the commercial and human context around it.
For audit and risk leaders, AI is an opportunity to elevate the role of the function.
Used thoughtfully, it can help teams provide more timely insight, improve coverage and become more forward-looking partners to the business. But getting there requires the right blend of technology, governance and people.
From a recruitment perspective, we are likely to see growing demand for professionals who can bridge traditional assurance expertise with data and technology awareness. That could be an experienced internal audit leader, an interim risk specialist, a data-enabled auditor or an AI governance professional.
The common thread is not just technical knowledge. It is the ability to bring clarity, challenge and sound judgement when the organisation needs it most.
AI is reshaping risk assurance, but it is not reducing the need for great people.
The teams that will get the most from it are those that combine intelligent tools with experienced professionals who know how to question, interpret and act on what the data is telling them.
For risk assurance professionals, that is a positive shift. The future is not about being replaced by AI. It is about using it to do more meaningful, higher-value work.
Oliver Cheshire – Senior Recruitment Consultant
Risk & Assurance
