Disclosure: This post was written by AI. Yes, the irony isn’t lost on us.
Ah, board minutes. The thrilling, edge-of-your-seat documentation that every governance professional absolutely lives for. Or not.
If you’ve ever spent hours deciphering cryptic meeting notes, you might have wondered: Can AI handle this? Can we finally outsource the joy of capturing boardroom brilliance (or, let’s be honest, boardroom rambling) to an algorithm?
Before you hand over your precious minutes to the robots, let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of using AI for board minutes.
The Glorious Advantages of AI in Board Minutes
1. Time-Saving Magic
AI can churn out minutes faster than you can say “action point.” With speech recognition and natural language processing, AI can transcribe and summarise discussions in record time, cutting down the hours spent wrangling with notes.
2. Consistency and Accuracy (In Theory)
AI doesn’t get tired, distracted, or mishear things (most of the time). It won’t “accidentally” forget a crucial decision or conveniently misinterpret a director’s rambling monologue.
3. Improved Searchability
With AI-generated minutes, you can have neatly indexed, searchable records. No more scrolling through endless PDFs to find that one mention of “risk appetite” from six meetings ago.
4. Reduced Human Error
No typos. No missed follow-ups. No rewriting the same sentence three times because it still doesn’t make sense. AI handles the mechanics, so you can focus on the governance.
The Inevitable Disadvantages (Because Nothing is Ever That Easy)
1. Context? What Context?
AI is great at transcribing words but not so great at understanding nuance. Board discussions are full of diplomacy, subtext, and the occasional eyebrow raise that says more than words ever could. AI doesn’t do body language.
2. Confidentiality and Security Nightmares
Do you really want your sensitive boardroom discussions floating around in an AI system? Data breaches, cyber risks, and compliance headaches await those who don’t tread carefully.
3. Garbage In, Garbage Out
If your directors mumble, talk over each other, or go off on tangents (which they never do, of course), AI might produce minutes that are as incomprehensible as a badly written sci-fi novel.
4. Regulatory and Legal Risks
Will AI-generated minutes stand up in court? Are they compliant with governance best practices? These are the kinds of questions that keep company secretaries awake at night.
5. The Human Touch Still Matters
Good board minutes capture essence, not just words. They distil discussions into clear, actionable insights. AI may be clever, but it lacks the judgement to determine what really matters.
So, Should You Use AI for Board Minutes?
Like all shiny new tech, AI has its place—but it’s not a magic bullet. It can help streamline minute-taking, but it shouldn’t replace human oversight. The best approach? A hybrid model: let AI do the heavy lifting, and let a skilled governance professional refine the final product.
Because at the end of the day, while AI might be good at transcribing, only humans truly understand the art of governance (and the fine balance of not upsetting the Chair).
Prompt: “Create a post for my governance and business blog about the advantages and disadvantages of using AI for board minutes. Use an engaging style. Use SEO key words. Include a disclosure at the start that the post was written by AI. Include this prompt at the end, to let readers know what the prompt was. Use sarcasm.”