“When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting.” – Lauren Fleshman

Earlier this week The New York Times published an article titled: “A.I. Might Take You’re your Job. Here are 22 New Ones It Could Give You.” Imagine my surprise when the very first potential new job the article mentioned was “A.I. Auditors.” As the article observed:

“Robert Seamans, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business who studies economic consequences of A.I. envisions a new set of roles he calls A.I. auditors – people who dig down into A.I. to understand what it is doing and why and can then document it for technical, explanatory, or liability purposes. Within the next five years he told me, he suspects that all big accounting firms will include “A.I. Audits” among their offerings.”

My first reaction was to say: “Excuse me Professor Seamans, but internal auditors can already do that.” Then I realized that very few of us probably could at this point. It raises once again the question: “what will be come of internal audit in the AI era?” Will we remain relevant if we don’t quickly transform, or will AI (and those whose sole job it to audit it) take our place?

In a world that seems to evolve faster by the quarter than it once did by the decade, AI has moved from novelty to necessity. With breathtaking speed, it is reshaping industries, workflows, and decision-making processes. For internal auditors—long viewed as guardians of organizational trust and stewards of risk assurance—AI is not just another tool. It’s becoming a competitor in the race for relevance.

The question now confronting the profession is not whether AI will become a dominant force in delivering assurance and insight—it already is. The question is: Can we evolve fast enough to remain indispensable in the face of intelligent automation?

The Rise of AI as an Assurance Provider

AI’s ascendancy in the governance, risk, and compliance space is both remarkable and sobering. Algorithms can now process millions of transactions in seconds, detect anomalies with uncanny accuracy, and generate audit trails that rival traditional assurance engagements in scope and precision. AI doesn’t fatigue, it doesn’t sleep, and—when properly designed—it doesn’t miss much.

Organizations are turning to AI to automate internal controls testing, conduct real-time risk assessments, and even draft policy exceptions or compliance alerts. In some areas, AI tools can already outperform human auditors on speed, scalability, and consistency. That’s a powerful competitive advantage.

But as history teaches us, winning a race isn’t always about raw speed. It’s also about navigating obstacles, interpreting the road ahead, and knowing when to pivot. That’s where the human internal auditor still holds firm ground.

The Traditional Role of Internal Audit: Strength or Strain?

For decades, internal auditors have served as a critical line of defense—evaluating internal controls, ensuring regulatory compliance, detecting fraud, and offering objective assurance to boards and executive leadership. These traditional duties are largely built on structured, repeatable tasks—exactly the kind AI was born to automate.

If we tether ourselves solely to these responsibilities, we risk being overtaken—if not replaced—by technology that can do the job faster, cheaper, and arguably more reliably.

However, our role has been evolving. Over the past decade, our profession has embraced a broader mandate: helping organizations anticipate risk, improve operations, and enhance governance. We’ve moved upstream—advising on strategy, emerging risks, and cultural resilience. That move, I would argue, has positioned us well for the AI era.

The Superpowers of Internal Auditors

While AI is revolutionizing how we gather and analyze information, it remains, for now, a tool—brilliantly capable but inherently limited. It lacks the human qualities that make internal auditors truly impactful. These are the superpowers that will define our staying power:

• Critical Thinking: AI excels at identifying what is happening. Human auditors ask why it’s happening and what it means. They connect context with consequence.
• Relationship Acumen: Trust is the cornerstone of internal audit’s effectiveness. We navigate sensitive relationships with stakeholders across the enterprise—something no algorithm can replicate.
• Intellectual Curiosity: Great auditors aren’t satisfied with surface-level answers. They ask the second and third questions, challenge assumptions, and pursue understanding with tenacity.
• Empathy: In times of organizational stress or crisis, internal auditors often serve as calm, trusted advisors. Understanding human emotion, motivation, and culture is beyond AI’s reach.
• Ethical Resilience: We are bound by a code of ethics. We must act with integrity, objectivity, and independence—values that anchor judgment in ways that AI cannot emulate.

These are not soft skills. They are our strategic assets that cannot be coded into machines. They will remain essential as AI transforms the landscape.

Coexisting With AI: The Future Is Augmented, Not Replaced

The path forward is not human or machine. It is human and machine.

Forward-looking internal audit functions are already leveraging AI—not fearing it. They’re using AI to expand internal audit coverage, mine unstructured data, and predict emerging risks. In doing so, they free up time and capacity to focus on what machines cannot do: make ethical judgments, engage with stakeholders, and shape organizational culture.

The future internal auditor will not compete with AI, but will partner with it. That means developing data literacy, working alongside data scientists, and adopting an innovation mindset. It also means having the courage to evolve—to let go of rote processes and embrace a future that rewards human discernment over mechanical repetition.

The Final Stretch

So, who will win the race for relevance?

If we cling solely to our historical mandates, the finish line will belong to AI. But if we evolve, embrace our human strengths, and augment ourselves with the best that technology has to offer, we won’t just remain relevant—we’ll become more indispensable than ever. People won’t speak of “AI Auditors,” they will simply associate us with the capability to audit AI as well at the full portfolio of risks their organizations face.

We must remind ourselves: AI may analyze faster, but it doesn’t inspire trust. It may detect patterns, but it doesn’t understand people. And it may deliver insight, but it doesn’t deliver wisdom.

The real race is not about speed. It’s about significance. And in that race, we have every reason to believe we can—and will—win.