I have been looking forward to sharing this post for a while. Today, I'm thrilled to share that we've reimagined GovernAI in Diligent Boards, giving everyone who does the work of governance a new way to get the answers, context and expert perspective they need, the moment they need it.
If you're a corporate secretary, general counsel or board administrator, you're the connective tissue of the boardroom. You build the board books, field the questions, chase down materials and keep the record that proves oversight happened. You do it cycle after cycle, often late at night and usually without much fanfare.
If you're a director, you carry the weight of the vote; approving the plan, blessing the deal, holding management to account. With this responsibility, you're expected to master an ever-growing volume of material spanning cyber, activism, M&A, geopolitics and more, then walk into every meeting ready to challenge, question and decide.
I've spent much of this year listening to both the practitioner and director. What I hear again and again is that the demands on governance professionals are rising faster than the hours in the day. You deserve tools that rise to meet them.
Here's the reality: Directors aren't waiting. According to the Diligent Institute's June 2026 Director Confidence Index, 82% of U.S. public company directors have used generative AI in their board work in the past six months, up from 66% in September 2025. Roughly 30% have used it to summarize board books or meeting materials, among the most sensitive documents a company has. More than half say their company has no guidance for how directors should use AI, and only 6% cite a formal policy specific to the board.
Directors aren't wrong to want help. They're doing exactly what conscientious board members should: Looking for every way to be better prepared. The problem is where that help comes from. When a board pack is pasted into a general-purpose consumer chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude, it leaves the governance perimeter you've worked so hard to build. No permissions, no citations, no record.
GovernAI gives directors a better option and the people who support them peace of mind.
We launched the original GovernAI capabilities within Diligent Boards in 2024 to take the busywork out of board preparation. GovernAI could securely automate book assembly and minutes drafting, summarize dense materials and scan for risky language, giving governance teams more time to advise.
That foundation continues to support every board cycle, powering AI-driven governance workflows for more than 3,000 organizations, with many reporting meeting prep time reduced by as much as 80%.
Now, we've built on it with a direct, conversational way for directors to get secure, cited answers and expert perspective from their board materials the moment a question arises. It all lives inside Diligent Boards, with no separate login, uploads or migration. Your board materials and history are already there, so GovernAI is ready when you are.
For directors, that means:
For corporate secretaries, general counsels and board administrators, it means:
All of this sits alongside the GovernAI capabilities customers already rely on across the board cycle. One GovernAI, working with you from the first draft of the board book to the follow-up after the vote.
Consumer AI tools don't know your board, your permissions or your materials. They start from zero every session.
GovernAI, on the other hand, is built on nearly three decades of Diligent's own experience serving the world's boardrooms. From the governance technology we design to the independent research and education programs the Diligent Institute delivers. That experience is how we know what directors think and how boards actually work: The way materials flow, who needs to see what, and what a defensible governance record looks like.
That expertise is built into GovernAI, including expert agents that bring additional perspective to complex questions across governance, risk and compliance. They help directors explore issues such as cybersecurity, regulatory compliance and activist risk, particularly where the board may not have deep specialist expertise of its own. They don't replace the experience or judgment around the table. They give directors a secure, contextual way to ask better questions and consider a broader range of perspectives before making a decision.
Underpinning it all is the Diligent’s intelligent knowledge and reasoning layer that connects governance context, from regulations, standards and risks to the materials leaders share with their boards. It means AI can reason like an experienced governance professional, not a generic assistant. It's a context layer no other governance software provider has, and it's why GovernAI answers are grounded, explainable and traceable to their source.
GovernAI was built for governance from the ground up:
Most importantly, GovernAI augments human judgment. It never replaces it. Directors still ask the questions, weigh the evidence and cast the vote. GovernAI makes sure they have the right information in front of them to make the decision.
Customers are already showing us what's possible. ELCO Mutual reduced board meeting prep from two days to two hours with Diligent. Here's how Eric Myers, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at ELCO Mutual Life and Annuity, puts it:
"Diligent's GovernAI has been instrumental in streamlining our governance processes, enabling us to scale efficiently while maintaining clarity, compliance, and strategic focus. It has increased our productivity in meeting preparation and empowered directors to engage meaningfully by synthesizing insights for more effective discussions."
We’ll never stop innovating to make governance, risk, audit and compliance work more efficient and effective. You'll see new capabilities arrive over the coming weeks and months, each one giving you more time, more insight and more confidence.
If you're already a Diligent Boards customer, log in and see what GovernAI can do for you and your board. If you're not yet a customer, book a demo and see governance-grade AI in action.
I can't wait to see what you can accomplish with GovernAI.
GovernAI is Diligent's governance-grade AI experience built into Diligent Boards that helps directors and governance teams find answers, gain expert perspective and prepare for meetings using their own board materials.
Yes. GovernAI operates within Diligent's permissioned environment, provides source citations and does not use customer data to train AI models.
GovernAI helps reduce repetitive director questions, streamline board meeting preparation and provide a secure way for directors to self-serve information.
Unlike general-purpose AI tools, GovernAI works within board governance workflows, respects permissions and provides traceable answers tied to board materials.
AI in the boardroom: How directors are using it, and why governance still hasn't caught up
Meta description: Discover what AI in the boardroom really looks like today: how directors are using AI, where the risks lie, and the steps GCs and corporate secretaries can take to build governance-ready AI policies and tools.
Board AI use rises: Director Confidence Index June 2026
A new survey reveals a significant rise in generative AI adoption among U.S. public company directors, with 82% using the technology for board work in the past six months. However, most lack formal guidelines or oversight, raising concerns about legal and operational risks as AI's influence expands in corporate governance.
