IIA Event on Artificial Intelligence in Internal Audit

'Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not replace auditors'  says Expert   

 

"Artificial intelligence (AI) will 'NOT' replace auditors. However, the job market would get competitive for those who can adapt and learn AI in this ever-changing field of audit. An auditor can be more effective when they provide greater insight and assurance to the client," stated Susan Paul, System security trainer from the USA, in a webinar hosted by the Institute of Internal Auditors Qatar on  Artificial intelligence vs. auditing- the future state.

 

Susan Paul is one of the top 10 Internal audit thought leaders for 2020 in the world, according to the President of the IIA Global. She has more than 15 years of experience leading many fortune 500 companies in IT audits, Information security, Risks, and governance business lines. Susan's inspiration is Elon Musk, who pioneered the Tesla driverless cars and Space-X  Starship rocket system to clean orbit.  

 

"Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of training machines to perform human tasks. There are three types of AI. Narrow AI is when the machine can perform a specific task better than a human. The current research of AI is here now. General AI reaches the general state when it can perform any intellectual task with the same accuracy level as a human would, and Strong AI is when it can beat humans in many tasks," said Susan Paul.

 

The brawn and brains of process automation were explained with examples. Robotic process automation (RPA) is nothing but instructing a machine to execute mundane, repetitive manual tasks. Machine Learning is a computer algorithm that can learn from example through self-improvement without being explicitly coded by a programmer. RPA is systems based on rules to automate easy tasks to make data sources while AI learns to mimic and improve processes.  

 

"The AI used in machine learning is where the machine has built-in algorithms that help it learn based on transactions it is fed. This software platform uses AI and various control points (benchmarks) to analyze the transactions and then puts those transactions into buckets: high risk, medium risk, or low risk.  Previously, auditors would manually sample at random to figure out which transactions to review, which was less effective. AI is more comprehensive; it alerts the team when things do not look right and tells auditors where to start and where the risk will be," Paul said.

 

 

"Susan explicated the technology topic lucidly with stories and anecdotes from personal experience. The training provided massive learning opportunities to members. Internal auditors' value-add will soon be judged on their predictability of what could happen to the business. That depends largely on our passion for the use of technology in internal audit to take us to the next level," said Sundaresan Rajeswar, Board member who coordinated the event.

 

In his closing remarks, Fahad al-Marri, Senior Vice President, thanked the speaker for a great session. "The webinar's key learning areas consisted of knowing IT Audit Space, how Artificial intelligence (AI) can help or impact audit, and what the future looks like for IT auditors.  The year 2021 training will focus on topics to help auditors learn new knowledge that can be put to practice at the workplace," Fahad remarked.  

 

Girish Jain, Murtaza, and Murali coordinated the event that ran for nearly two hours and had a full capacity of over 100 attendees.