Artificial intelligence holds significant potential for the IT audit profession, according to 60% of respondents of ISACA’s recent 2024 AI Pulse Poll who noted AI will have a positive impact on audit/assurance in the next year—the highest number compared to other domains like risk, compliance, security, IT strategy/governance, and privacy. As part of its expanding AI education offerings, ISACA has released an online, self-paced introductory course to AI for auditors, alongside other new courses on ethics and machine learning for business enablement.
ISACA’s research also revealed some uncertainties around AI. Thirty-nine percent of respondents believe that AI will have a negative impact on privacy as a professional domain in the next year. Additionally, 20 percent of respondents indicate they are not at all confident in their ability to detect AI-powered misinformation; the same percent echoed this lack of confidence in their organizations’ abilities. When asked who is responsible for or oversees the usage of AI within their organization, one in five say they are not sure.
However, even amid uncertainty, education and training is increasingly important for professionals: the pulse poll found that 23 percent of respondents say that their organization is considering increasing those AI jobs, and that 85 percent of digital trust professionals say they will need AI training within two years to help them retain their roles or advance their careers.
ISACA’s three new artificial intelligence courses are:
- Introduction to AI for Auditors — Explores fundamental AI concepts relevant to auditing to help individuals understand how AI can transform auditing processes.
- Ethical Perspectives in AI: Implications, Principles, and Social Dynamics — Explores the ethical consequences associated with AI use, the ethical principles that should be considered in the development and adoption of AI, and the impacts AI could have on society.
- Machine Learning for Business Enablement — Prepares individuals to effectively evaluate machine learning solutions, better assess risk, and aid responsible AI adoption.
“While AI brings unprecedented opportunities to businesses, it also brings incredible responsibility. Its direct impact on people’s lives has raised considerable questions around AI ethics, data governance, trust, security and privacy,” writes Geetha Murugesan in an ISACA Now blog post. “IT auditors today are not equipped to handle the complexities of AI. There are no agreed upon regulations or standards that govern how to audit AI systems, which especially hinders the production and use of ethical AI. So, it is up to AI auditors to perform ethics-based AI auditing.”
ISACA’s new courses follow the recent launches of: AI Essentials, Auditing Generative AI: Strategy, Analysis and Risk Mitigation, and AI Governance: Principles, Strategies and Business Alignment.”
ISACA’s additional AI-focused resources include:
- Artificial Intelligence: A Primer on Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Neural Networks
- Artificial Intelligence Audit Toolkit
- Using the Digital Trust Ecosystem Framework to Achieve Trustworthy AI
- An AI acceptable use policy template (one of 15 IS/IT policies available in ISACA’s Policy Template Library)
To learn more about these courses, including pricing, key learning outcomes, and CPE, visit adwz.tamilfolksongs.com/resources/artificial-intelligence#2. To access content and other ISACA resources around AI, visit adwz.tamilfolksongs.com/ai.