KPMG Principal On Why AI Governance Must Be A Board-Level Imperative In The New Era Of AI Accountability

The recent KPMG AI Pulse survey found that businesses are already seeing agent deployments deliver measurable ROI, and leaders are rethinking how they define success. In fact, 57% anticipate measurable returns in the next 12 months.

Meanwhile, that momentum is unfolding against a complex and fragmented regulatory backdrop, from the EU AI Act to China's administrative measures and the high-level directives of America's AI Action Plan. Now, more than ever, enterprise AI's survival depends on a disciplined, business-led strategy that builds in governance from the start.

Hernan De la Torre, a Principal at KPMG US, has spent over two decades guiding global transformations at the intersection of supply chain, technology, and AI. With experience leading complex projects across 30 countries in the Consumer, Retail, and Manufacturing sectors, De la Torre has had a front-row seat to the collision between AI ambition and operational reality.

"AI projects confined to IT are like working out without a coach: you learn the moves, but you won't hit your higher goals. True business value comes only when projects have clear sponsorship paired with defined outcomes and timelines." Put simply, enterprise leaders must understand why they are investing in AI before deciding how to deploy it, he explained.

• Anchored in value: For AI to deliver on its promise, leaders must resist the allure of treating it as a "fun" tech project and instead anchor it in a comprehensive philosophy of business value, governance, and trust. "It must be governed and reliable: humans in the loop, outputs verified, use cases proven, and tangible value delivered," De la Torre said.

• Balancing act: This requires discipline navigating the tension between explainability and precision, a tradeoff that increasingly defines boardroom conversations. "As models become more complex, leaders must balance interpretability with performance," he added. "Transparency builds trust, but accountability ensures scale."

As organizations navigate the "patchwork trap" of fragmented regulation, this shift is especially important. While the impulse to innovate often clashes with the need for compliance, the guardrails perceived as barriers are the very mechanisms that build the trust necessary for adoption, he explained.