Post # 97
February 4, 2026
Claire Bodanis
To disclose or not to disclose? That is – or was – the question discussed at our January webinar on the responsible use of generative AI in corporate reporting. Clearly a popular one, given not only the attendance, but also the coverage! Claire summarises it here.
Exciting news, readers! The latest webinar in our series on the responsible use of generative AI in corporate reporting – on whether companies should disclose the use of AI – was covered by the lovely Florence Jones from the FT’s Sustainable Views, through an interview with me, titled: As companies adopt AI, can investors trust corporate reporting?
If you’re a subscriber, you can skip the rest of this blog. Otherwise, here’s a summary – tempted though I am, it really wouldn’t be quite the thing to share the gift subscription link…
In the webinar, our illustrious panel (Diana Rose, who gave an update on AI tools; Martin Blaxall, Director, Corporate Brand and Communications, AstraZeneca, who shared the results of their trials of AI tools in reporting; and Freddie Woolfe of Jupiter Asset Management, who gave the investor’s perspective) discussed whether, and how, companies should disclose the use of AI in their annual reports.
As stories of the controversial use of AI continue to hit the headlines – involving organisations as diverse as Raspberry Pi, Deloitte and West Midlands Police – Sustainable Views clearly felt this was an issue that reporters needed to be aware of. Especially in light of our research findings* that few large companies explain how AI is used in creating their reports. (Nor, as Juanjo Mestre, CEO of Spanish tech company, Dcycle, pointed out, are they currently obliged to report on the Scope 3 environmental impacts of the data centres used in AI production – but this ‘won’t stay a grey area for long’, he predicted.)
Does it really matter, you may ask? Emphatically yes. The above cases illustrate what can happen to heads of organisations when they do not question the accuracy of the data they use to inform their comment, advice and decision-making. And, in the particular case of corporate reporting – what pitfalls may lie in wait for Board members who pass off AI-generated opinion as their own.
It comes back to my constant refrain, which I was gratified to see as a large pull-out quote: “If you’re getting AI to decide the way you talk about your own year and your own financial review, how is that possibly your opinion?” Plus, our recommendations: first, that companies should set internal guardrails in their governance processes, to ensure that reporting teams are not using AI in a way that compromises either accuracy or opinion; and second, to include, as part of a wider disclosure on the process of how the annual report is put together, a short explanation of the use of AI.
As with all things AI, the big question is, where will it end? In the current political context in the US, President Trump’s closeness to the AI tech companies and fondness for tariffs is unlikely to hasten the adoption of regulation any time soon, in the UK at least. Nonetheless, the UK Government is moving ahead with its Modernisation of Corporate Reporting (MCR) review this year, which, I am reliably informed, will include consideration of digitisation and the use of AI. I was therefore particularly delighted that the article included a link to my own proposal for a new model of corporate reporting for the age of AI, sent in for consideration to the MCR, which you too can find here.
Whatever the future for my model, you can be sure that, as a contributor to the MCR, I’ll do my utmost to ensure that any new model is based on the purpose of reporting, namely to build a relationship of trust with in investors and other stakeholders, by telling an honest, engaging story about the issues that matter.
With thanks
You may be wondering at the title ‘again’ – in November 2023, the FT’s Sustainable Views, under the then editor, Silvia Pavoni, was the first to cover our AI campaign when we launched our original guidance for Boards and management on the responsible use of AI in reporting. It was thanks to Silvia’s article that Diana and Insig AI found us, and so our research partnership, and ‘Your Precocious Intern’, were born. At every stage of this campaign, just when I’ve wondered where to go next, the people and opportunities I’ve needed to help push it forward have appeared, as if by magic. I am hugely grateful to all of you for your continuing encouragement and support.
*Our research and recommendations, ‘Your Precocious Intern: How to use generative AI responsibly in corporate reporting’, included data up to and including FY24 reports. I’m looking forward to rerunning the analysis for FY25 to see if anything’s changed.