Berlin, 26 January 2024 - As a key technology, artificial intelligence is also opening up new, ground-breaking prospects for the compliance landscape. This is confirmed by the AI study on "Next Generation Compliance", which is based on a survey conducted by the ecosystem KI-Park e.V. together with the consulting firms WTS, the BDI and other renowned partners from industry and science.
The study is based on a combination of expert interviews, surveys and the analysis of external scientific papers and statistics. The results obtained show the potential of AI for compliance and are equally important for board members, managing directors, legal departments and experts in the fields of cybersecurity, data protection and IT. They are also relevant for anyone interested in the interface between technology, ethics and the business world.
"The sector is facing a paradigm shift. Increasing digitalisation and the rapid development of AI will influence the way in which companies operate compliance. In addition to the automation of processes, the new technologies will also change the job profiles of compliance officers and their responsibilities in companies," predicts Dr Tobias Fuchs, Managing Director at WTS Legal and co-author of the study.
Three key dynamics drive compliance
Compliance organisations are being driven by three key developments: increasingly complex regulation at national and international level, a growing shortage of skilled workers and the revolutionary improvements in the performance of artificial intelligence, which is having an increasing impact on all industries and functions.
"The drastic increase and change in the legal and regulatory framework, such as the introduction of the GDPR in the European Union, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the USA or the global Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, present companies with considerable challenges and risks. In this context, it is remarkable that almost 60 per cent of the companies surveyed are already subject to requirements from their
business partners with regard to their compliance policy, which underlines the need for more efficient compliance systems," comments Dr Tobias Fuchs.
As a result, the use of AI-supported compliance solutions will become significantly more important, particularly due to rapid technological progress, such as recently with generative language models. This development has significantly increased acceptance for the use of such technologies. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to find intelligent and efficient solutions for dealing with compliance tasks, as the number of
available skilled labour is decreasing. It is therefore not surprising that over two thirds of survey participants consider AI to be an essential strategy for future-proof compliance.
Companies are becoming cognitive systems
The transformation of companies into "self-aware", cognitive organisations is a significant development in the context of compliance. Cognitive organisations use advanced data analytics and AI to make informed decisions,
make data-driven decisions. These companies adapt quickly to market changes by continuously learning from data and utilising innovative technologies such as IoT and cloud computing.
"Anyone who wants to operate compliance in the future will inevitably also have to master the management of data and AI systems. However, this also means a change in the 'who' of compliance work. With the new tools, legal and regulatory units can increase the scope and efficiency of their work and take on significantly more tasks. As a result, the area will become more centralised in the future," explains Prof. Dr Sabina Jeschke, CEO KI Park e.V. and
Supervisory Board of Vitesco and co-author of the study.
This development is also reflected in the study. In companies with a high level of technical maturity, the ratio of responsibilities and therefore the diversification of responsibility is decreasing. Strong compliance and legal departments dominate instead of many different people in charge.
AI becomes a competitive advantage
Many companies are increasingly networking their business processes and creating holistic data lakes. This breaks down silos and increases the efficiency of the entire organisation. "This not only enables more effective monitoring and compliance, but also transforms compliance from a reactive to a strategically proactive function. Companies that utilise AI-supported compliance gain a competitive advantage
through risk reduction and increased precision by combining predictive and real-time capabilities with a holistic and individualised approach. Overall, AI-driven compliance will help to accelerate business development," says Prof Dr Sabina Jeschke.
The future has already arrived: "Around 30 per cent of the company representatives surveyed, not least
Due to the "chat GPT effect", large language models are already being used in information and knowledge management. Almost 25 per cent use these technologies for compliance applications such as regulatory scouting and monitoring (e.g. supply chain screening or business partner monitoring)," summarises Dr Thomas Thiele, Principal at Arthur D. Little
and co-author of the study.
The study is divided into four main clusters: "A: Setting the Scene", "B: Next Generation Compliance", "C: Effects of AI on Compliance" and "D: Challenges of AI-driven Compliance". Each cluster comprises a number of theses that highlight the various aspects and implications of the use of AI in compliance and serves as the basis for the in-depth analyses in the following chapters.
If you are interested, the complete study can be requested via the following link:
If you cannot see our enquiry form, this may be due to your cookie settings. You can change them here: Customise cookie settingsThe survey was conducted by KI Park e.V., WTS Legal and the Federation of German Industries (BDI), in cooperation with the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE), the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), Siemens Industry Software GmbH and the German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce (DSHK). The Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is providing scientific support.
About KI Park
As an association of currently 130 research institutions, start-ups, established companies, investors and social and political players, KI Park e.V. pursues the goal of promoting the development and use of artificial intelligence so that Germany and Europe can take a leading position as a centre of technology and innovation. The ecosystem enables its members to exchange knowledge, drive their ideas forward and solve relevant problems together in AI real-world laboratories. The AI Park has a clear focus on those AI technologies that will significantly shape the future of industry and society, such as deep reinforcement learning, 5G & 6G, NLP and digital twins. Further information about the AI Park and the ecosystem can be found at www.kipark.de available.
About WTS
WTS is a global full-service provider of tax advisory and financial & deal advisory services. With more than 1,600 experts in Germany and one of the most advanced digital units worldwide, WTS develops innovative and integrated solutions to help tax and finance functions navigate safely through increasing regulatory challenges and support digital transformation. The consulting services offered by WTS are represented by the three business units Tax, Advisory and Digital. WTS deliberately refrains from carrying out annual audits and is therefore an independent and long-term partner. WTS is represented at 13 locations in Germany and in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Further information: wts.com/en
Press contact KI Park
Karina Sufianova
In Marienpark 22
12107 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0)151 40301336
presse@kipark.de
Press contact WTS
Florian Kestler I Celina Halfmann
Friedenstrasse 22
81671 Munich
Phone: +49 (0)89 286 46-1565 I -1248
florian.kestler@wts.de I celina.halfmann@wts.de
