As AI Becomes Ubiquitous, One Group Is Ensuring Board Directors Are Included

Forbes

29-03-2025

It's hard to go a week without hearing someone referencing how AI (artificial intelligence) is shaping business.
But one group in particular hasn't gotten the attention it deserves in relation to the technology: board directors.
The data is striking. While 95% of directors believe AI will significantly impact their business in 2025, only 5% of companies have implemented any AI governance frameworks.
This rapid evolution of AI technology and the rise of new AI-driven companies has created a significant knowledge gap in AI governance for today's boards.
Enter Alpha, a 'for directors by directors' company built to include and equip for-profit board members with the expertise needed to navigate the evolving landscape.
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While we typically hear the term AI, the growing opportunity is around generative artificial intelligence—or 'GenAI,' as it's often referred. What's the difference?
AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by computer systems, enabling them to learn, reason and make decisions. Behind-the-scenes AI powers a lot of our everyday tasks. Apple's Siri is an example of AI, as is bank automated fraud detection.
The evolution of AI has been GenAI, which refers to a specific subset of AI that uses programs to process large data sets, detect patterns and then create new works or outputs (known as 'prompts'). At Netflix, GenAI uses machine learning algorithms, which is at the heart of various use cases, such as recommendations, content understanding, content demand modeling and trailer suggestions.
GenAI can significantly boost productivity while reshaping many jobs. According to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the World Economic Forum, the lessons and frameworks that can be created by leveraging GenAI for job augmentation and workforce productivity is vast.
A full two-thirds of investors expect GenAI to deliver significant productivity gains within the next 12 months for the companies that invest in it, with a similar number expecting their investment to positively impact the bottom line.
The investment in GenAI has been staggering, to say the least.
Venture capital remains the primary source of funding for GenAI, accounting for over 70% of the total private capital value in recent years. The sector has experienced a significant compound annual growth rate of 43% from 2019 to 2024, with cumulative deal values reaching $27.3 billion. At corporations, GenAI budgets are expected to grow over the next three years, to 7.6% of IT budgets on average by 2027. In 2024, businesses spent $13.8 billion on GenAI, five times the $2.3 billion spent in 2023.
But determining what or where to spend on GenAI, whether it's as a tool to help employees or a feature to include in your product or service, can be a challenge.
Unfortunately, there's no simple answer, since AI is still such a new field. KPMG's latest AI Quarterly Pulse Survey shows 68% of large corporations plan to invest somewhere between $50 million and $250 million in the next 12 months.
By aligning strategic goals around GenAI, organizations can create an environment that improves job quality and productivity, and help employees take on more meaningful and impactful work.
March 2025, the Alpha AI Forum was attended by over 100 Board Directors in NYC
Board directors often spend much of their time off the public radar. While many outsiders seek to get access to their time, practical experience from those who served on boards and have worked in technology is a bit more rare.
Alpha, which launched in 2024, was designed to give board directors two options to engage in both AI and with their counterparts. Through platforms, board directors can learn, educating themselves through modules and grow on their own time. Or through exclusive access to in-person forums, board members can connect with other board directors to align on the clarity and importance of leadership and the preparation of what it takes to be AI and GenAI ready.
Alpha offers an exclusive membership network for board directors, a think tank focused on AI governance and a technology platform. This integrated ecosystem empowers board directors to learn with their peers, at their own pace through workshops and forums for peer-to-peer collaboration.
'Creating a space in which board directors can come together to learn, grow and lead using artificial intelligence through practical, peer-to-peer learning and expert guidance is what has been missing,' said Alpha Founder and CEO Steven Wolfe Pereira, a 25-year tech veteran and board member. 'Alpha's mission is to empower board directors to lead with confidence in the AI era.'
Alpha Founder and CEO Steven Wolfe Pereira
The company held its Alpha Board Forum in New York City in March 2025. With over 100 board directors in attendance, across various industries and verticals, the message was loud and clear: not knowing how to use, understand and leverage AI creates material risk and missed opportunities for both your business and your shareholders.
'We bring our collective together at our Alpha Board Forums, where board directors emerge better equipped to drive strategy, oversee risk and govern effectively,' said Alvin Bowles, Alpha cofounder and general partner. Mr. Bowles, who spent the last decade of his career at Meta, knows the value of building and scaling solutions.
Recently, Salesforce, launched AgentExchange, a marketplace where developers can create and sell AI agents. Launching with more than 200 initial partners and ready-made solutions, AgentExchange can assist businesses to build out an AI agent workforce to complement and enhance their employees. During that announcement, one narrative in particular stood out and gave context to our moment in time: this generation of CEOs may be the last to manage people-only workforces.
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The same may hold true for board directors.
AI agents don't just follow standard, repetitive automation. Instead, they can accomplish tasks that have required human intervention. For instance, companies such as Delphi AI, which empowers people to build digital versions of themselves as a way to scale their expertise and availability, incorporates AI that thinks and interacts exactly as the user would.
With the speed of evolution at a breakneck pace, the future may be a world in which your AI agent may be as important as your email address or your cell phone. Let's just hope they share your password and unlock codes with you!