The Boardroom Has a New Member — And It Doesn’t Have a Chair
Every executive walking into a boardroom meeting in 2026 carries something their predecessors never had: a digital context backpack — an AI-curated intelligence layer containing relevant research, historical meeting summaries, risk data, and tailored insights, assembled in minutes, not weeks.
This isn’t science fiction. According to McKinsey’s 2024 Global Survey, 72% of organizations are now using AI in at least one business function, and C-suite decision-making is increasingly among them. Looking ahead, Gartner predicts that by 2027, 75% of new analytics content will be contextualized for intelligent applications through generative AI, fundamentally bridging the gap between raw insights and strategic actions (Gartner, 2025).
Here’s what’s actually changing in the room:
- Before AI: Decisions were only as good as the memory and preparation of the people present.
- After AI: Every participant arrives pre-loaded with curated data, historical precedent, and scenario analysis — regardless of how much prep time they had.
- The shift: Human judgment isn’t being replaced — it’s being amplified.
The critical point most people miss: AI doesn’t make the decision. It surfaces what’s relevant. The seasoned executive still owns the three things no model can replicate — risk appetite assessment, stakeholder judgment, and accountability.
Think of it this way: AI is the world’s most thorough briefing document. But someone still has to decide whether to sign.
The boardrooms winning right now aren’t the ones debating whether to use AI. They’re the ones figuring out how deeply to embed it — in pre-read preparation, real-time data access, and post-meeting synthesis.
The question isn’t human vs. AI in the boardroom. It’s how quickly your board learns to use both — together.