Corporate America is deploying artificial intelligence at breakneck speed, but the guardrails to keep it in check are nowhere near ready. A new survey from Grant Thornton reveals a stunning gap between how fast companies are adopting AI and how prepared they are to govern it responsibly.
Nearly 8 in 10 executives admit their organization would fail an AI governance audit, yet adoption continues to surge. Among companies still testing AI systems, just 7 percent express strong confidence they could pass an independent audit within 90 days. That confidence jumps dramatically to 74 percent for those with AI fully woven into operations.
The financial incentive to move fast is undeniable. Organizations with integrated AI systems report revenue growth at nearly four times the rate of those still in pilot stages, 58 percent versus 15 percent. That gap creates intense pressure to deploy before thinking through the risks.
"Competitive FOMO is real," Tom Puthiyamadam, managing partner of advisory services at Grant Thornton, explained to Axios. "There is pressure pushing companies to move fast and show results from AI. The urgency to deploy has outpaced the urgency to create guardrails, to govern, to be compliant."
The survey of 950 senior executives conducted from mid-February through March showed troubling numbers across the boardroom. While 75 percent of boards have greenlit major AI investments, nearly half have not even set governance expectations, and 46 percent have failed to integrate AI risk oversight programs into their operations.
The stakes are climbing as companies begin deploying agentic AI, systems that operate independently on tasks without requiring constant human direction. That shift demands company-specific rules and standards-based controls to ensure these systems work safely and stay aligned with business values.
"Governance as foundational, but also governance as becoming a competitive moat," said Navrina Singh, CEO of AI governance platform CredoAI. Singh warned companies betting that an incident later will spur them to action. The smarter play, she argued, is investing in governance now to avoid that crisis entirely.
Author James Rodriguez: "The survey exposes a predictable corporate blind spot: chasing the AI advantage without building the infrastructure to manage it. That's the formula for expensive lawsuits and regulatory headaches."
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