Empowering the Future

The challenges of keeping pace with the latest advances in the machinery of business are nothing new. No industry or profession is immune. Certainly, changes in technology, communication, regulation, and governance have continuously shaped the internal audit profession over the past 100 years.

Today, we are witnessing the dawn of the artificial intelligence (AI) era, one that already is rapidly rewriting how business is done. I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to call on our profession to respond to this latest challenge with agility, creativity, and alacrity.

However, it will require more than simply understanding how best to leverage this new and powerful technology to set internal auditors apart. Indeed, the future of internal auditing will not be defined by the tools we adopt, but by the people we empower — their judgment, confidence, and ability to turn uncertainty into insight. This is why I have chosen Empowering a Future-Ready Profession for my theme as the 2026-2027 North American Board chair.

During my term, the North American Board will champion this vision by working with IIA staff and volunteers to advance research, guidance, and talent development initiatives that strengthen both technological capabilities and the human judgment that differentiates internal audit. This work is essential to ensuring the profession remains relevant and positioned to deliver greater value in today’s complex, AI-driven risk environment.

Internal Audit’s Inflection Point

Less than four years since the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT large language model, AI has dramatically changed what stakeholders expect from internal auditors and how they define our organizational value. The profession is being asked to deliver strategic value in a more volatile environment with constrained resources.

A growing number of internal audit leaders report declines in both budget and staff in 2025, compared with the prior year, according to The IIA’s 2026 North American Pulse of Internal Audit report (see “Pulse Trends”). The report urges practitioners “to carefully manage resources and demonstrate value to stakeholders by aligning with organizational strategy.”

Responding to the AI challenge will take more than just a willingness to rethink our approaches to audit engagements or tweak our processes. Internal auditing isn’t facing incremental change — it’s at an inflection point. The question isn’t whether expectations will keep rising; it’s whether we’re building the profession fast enough to meet those demands.

Driven by external volatility from AI disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, climate change, and other factors, boards and audit committees expect greater insight, faster reporting, and broader risk oversight from internal audit. Technology is transforming the profession, but tools alone are not the solution.

Across industries, technology is accelerating the pace of our work. At the same time, it’s increasing the need for uniquely human capabilities. I often tell my team that tools can automate our procedures, but they can’t yet replace judgment in ambiguous situations. That includes being adaptable when the risks and priorities shift quickly, strengthening our ability to influence key stakeholders, and helping shape decisions within our organizations.

There is little doubt that technology is evolving the profession and, more importantly, how our work is valued. Not long ago, internal audit’s value was measured by the volume of testing we performed. Now it’s defined by the risk insights we provide. From an internal audit perspective, that means showcasing our professional skepticism and ethical reasoning, effective communication, and ability to synthesize complexity into clarity.

Redefining Audit Work

Technology is not only changing what internal auditors do; it is fundamentally changing who they need to be. As digital tools scale, human interpretation and ethical oversight become the differentiators of audit quality.

Simply put, tools matter, frameworks matter, but when everything is moving faster and becoming more complex, it’s still people — their judgment, confidence, and adaptability — that differentiate high-performing internal audit functions. That said, we should appreciate how technology is changing the day-to-day work of internal auditing and see how that fits into the broader discussion of the profession’s value.

The IIA remains focused on equipping internal auditors to navigate this shift. By offering updated guidance, research, accessible tools, and professional development, we are strengthening both AI and technological fluency and the human capabilities that underpin effective auditing. I see this in three distinct areas.

Technology as an Enabler and a Disruptor. The growth of data-enabled assurance and analytics-driven audit work is making practitioners more efficient, and stakeholders recognize the potential for internal audit to do more with less. Meanwhile, technology risks dominate audit plans, particularly cybersecurity and IT. Yet technology adoption and maturity still lag expectations within many internal audit functions.

AI’s Two-Tiered Challenge. AI is automating routine audit tasks, expanding analytical insight and predictive capabilities, and increasing expectations for speed, relevance, and clarity. At the same time, boards are turning to internal audit for assurance on AI governance, model risk management, transparency, and ethics. Failing to deliver on any of these tasks is unacceptable.

Technology and Human Capabilities. In the AI era, professional judgment, ethical reasoning, critical thinking, clear communication, and professional skepticism will be more valuable than ever. As automation scales, judgment does not diminish — it becomes more visible. AI raises the bar on speed and insight, but it also raises the bar on ethics, interpretation, and human discernment.

Building the Talent Pipeline

Talent is rising on the risk register. More than simply a human resources concern, it has become a risk management and resilience issue for internal audit functions. Gaps in skills, capabilities, or even culture can directly impact internal audit’s ability to identify emerging risks and deliver timely, effective guidance. As such, each decision audit leaders make about whom we attract, how we develop them, and whether they remain in the profession is now a risk and resilience decision.

Developing and empowering the next generation of practitioners is not optional; it is central to the profession’s resilience, relevance, and existence. The future demands that internal auditors be fluent in technology and apply critical thinking and analytical judgment to complex, interconnected risks. They must also excel at communicating insights in ways that influence organizational strategies. Yet the skills required to thrive in the AI era are evolving faster than traditional talent pathways can keep up.

Traditional career pathways assume that we bring someone in at an entry-level position, have him or her perform manual testing for a few years, and eventually develop into a senior role. But automation has eroded much of that early career work, increasing the skills needed for entry-level positions.

What I’m looking for today from new entrants to internal audit focuses on four key areas: digital fluency, critical thinking, business acumen, and effective communication. This mix of talents encourages more flexible career pathways.

I recently hired an internal audit manager. Because I knew AI was handling so much of the traditional testing, I needed someone with knowledge of the business, which is something AI doesn’t have. AI can’t put things into context or understand how things are really done within a business.

I ended up hiring a 20-year-career person from our operations team who is digitally fluent and has strong analytical thinking skills. This person can go through what AI is generating for us and say, “Does this seem right? Is it fit for purpose for us?” This matters because what I’m assessed on are the recommendations we provide the business. Are they practical? Are they reasonable? And ultimately, do they add value to the business?

Enabling Internal Audit’s Future

Through student outreach, emerging leader programs, and credentialing, The IIA is directly addressing workforce constraints. It is equipping the profession with the standards, research, and developmental pathways needed to meet rising expectations. By investing in people at every stage of their careers, we strengthen trust, credibility, and long-term impact.

For example, the Internal Auditing Competency Framework aligns with the Global Internal Audit Standards and provides a structured model for auditors to develop skills in technology, leadership, professional judgment, governance, and risk insight. It gives internal audit functions a measurable roadmap to build staff capabilities. However, that must be paired with intentional leadership focused on upholding and adopting that framework.

By investing in research and guidance, The IIA helps internal auditors interpret the rapidly evolving risk environment and technology’s impact. It also helps accelerate the transition from a compliance-focused function to a more strategic, insight-driven role that delivers forward-looking value to the organization. Practitioners must transform now or become irrelevant. For example, as technology replaces early-career tasks, such as note-taking during audit client meetings, young internal auditors need to look their stakeholders in the eyes and better understand the organizational context and the business.

Strengthening the talent pipeline will require focused initiatives on three key fronts: student outreach and academic partnerships, emerging leader programs, and global certifications such as the Certified Internal Auditor. These initiatives address widespread talent shortages identified by CAEs.

The Human Advantage

Internal auditors must recognize the pressure our stakeholders face to embrace AI and not be left behind in the digital marketplace. But we also should be cognizant of their growing awareness of AI’s limitations and the need for human oversight of what AI produces.

While our stakeholders have readily embraced AI, they are going to be increasingly skeptical of its output once they start seeing too much AI-generated information that lacks relevance, applicability, practicality, and reasonableness. By recognizing, investing in, and developing skills that set humans apart from AI, internal audit can be the bridge that provides clarity and context.