Grant Thornton's CompliAI: AI Agents for Compliance

In the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence, the line between human expertise and machine intelligence is blurring at an unprecedented pace. Nowhere is this clearer than in the professional services sector, where firms are racing to harness AI’s transformative power to elevate client service, compliance, and risk management. On May 20, 2025, Grant Thornton, a global leader in audit, tax, and advisory, took a bold step forward with the launch of CompliAI—an AI-powered tool designed to pair skilled professionals with intelligent agents, fundamentally reshaping how compliance and risk are managed in an era of relentless regulatory complexity. ## The Genesis of CompliAI: Why Now? CompliAI arrives at a watershed moment. Businesses today face a dizzying array of risks—cyber threats, shifting regulations, and the operational challenges of digital transformation. Traditional approaches to compliance and risk management, often manual and reactive, are buckling under the weight of these pressures. As Ethan Rojhani, a Risk Advisory partner at Grant Thornton, puts it, “As a result, they need better ways to create risk and compliance management frameworks, and to design and implement the most relevant controls” [5]. Enter CompliAI. Developed using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, the tool integrates generative AI, natural language processing, and Grant Thornton’s extensive global controls library. The goal? To empower professionals with real-time, data-driven insights and automate the labor-intensive work of control design and assessment—processes that once took days or weeks can now be completed in minutes [5]. ## How CompliAI Works: A Deep Dive At its core, CompliAI is an intelligent agent that works alongside Grant Thornton’s professionals. Think of it as a digital co-pilot, one that can analyze vast datasets, identify compliance gaps, and recommend tailored controls—all while learning and adapting from each interaction. **Key Features:** - **Generative AI Capabilities:** Leveraging models like those from Microsoft OpenAI, CompliAI can generate reports, draft compliance frameworks, and even answer complex regulatory queries in natural language. - **Global Controls Library:** The tool taps into Grant Thornton’s proprietary database of control frameworks, ensuring that recommendations are both globally informed and locally relevant. - **Automated Risk Assessment:** By automating the identification and ranking of risks, CompliAI helps professionals prioritize their efforts and allocate resources more effectively. - **Real-Time Insights:** The platform delivers actionable insights in real time, enabling professionals to respond swiftly to emerging risks and regulatory changes [5]. ## The Impact: Faster, Smarter, and More Personalized Service The benefits are already tangible. Professionals using CompliAI report significant efficiency gains, with control design and assessment tasks that once took days now completed in minutes. Clients, in turn, receive faster, more accurate, and cost-effective service—a win-win in an industry where time and accuracy are paramount. Jeanna Shapiro, Chief People and Culture Officer at Grant Thornton Advisors LLC, underscores the human-centric approach: “Our people are at the core of our AI strategy. We are dedicated to equipping them with the right tools and training to excel in an AI-driven landscape. By leveraging AI, we help our professionals concentrate on higher-value engagement, foster innovation and deliver superior results for our clients” [1]. ## AI in Professional Services: A Broader Context Grant Thornton’s launch of CompliAI is part of a broader trend. Across the professional services sector, firms are integrating AI to modernize legacy systems, centralize data, and enhance decision-making. *Accounting Today* recently recognized Grant Thornton as one of its 2025 Best Firms for Technology, highlighting the firm’s “three tiers of successful technology strategy: application modernization, data centralization and AI integration” [1]. But the journey isn’t without challenges. Johnny Lee, a principal in Grant Thornton’s Risk Advisory Services, emphasizes the need for a structured approach: “Get your use cases winnowed down to five top choices, and then look at the data undergirding those processes. You isolate the data requiring improvement without an all-encompassing data renovation project that would take months or years to complete” [3]. ## Navigating the Risks: AI Governance and Ethics As with any transformative technology, the adoption of AI in professional services raises important questions around governance, ethics, and risk. Boards and management teams are being urged to take a systematic approach to AI use case prioritization, ensuring alignment with organizational values and regulatory requirements. Key considerations include: - **Privacy and Security:** Protecting sensitive client data is non-negotiable. - **Regulatory Compliance:** AI tools must operate within the bounds of ever-evolving regulations. - **Transparency and Accountability:** Decisions made by AI should be explainable and auditable. - **Fairness and Ethics:** AI systems must avoid bias and align with ethical principles [3][4]. “For example, if you’re using data that’s not well-governed or highly constrained by privacy, ownership or intellectual property concerns, the use case might expose you to risks that outweigh the potential benefits,” Lee cautions [3]. ## Real-World Applications: Beyond Compliance CompliAI’s reach extends beyond traditional compliance. The tool is being deployed across Grant Thornton’s audit, tax, and advisory functions, enabling professionals to deliver more sophisticated, personalized, and data-driven insights to clients. In the context of climate and sustainability, for example, CompliAI helps clients navigate complex regulatory landscapes and drive value creation in an era of heightened environmental scrutiny [2]. ## The Future: What’s Next for AI in Professional Services? Looking ahead, the integration of AI in professional services is set to accelerate. As firms like Grant Thornton continue to refine their AI maturity models, we can expect to see even greater levels of automation, personalization, and innovation. The next frontier? AI agents that not only assist but also anticipate client needs, proactively identifying risks and opportunities before they materialize. By the way, as someone who’s followed AI for years, I’m thinking that the most successful firms will be those that strike the right balance between human intuition and machine intelligence—where AI empowers, rather than replaces, the professionals at the heart of client service. ## Comparison Table: CompliAI vs. Traditional Compliance Tools | Feature | CompliAI (AI-Powered) | Traditional Tools (Manual/Static) | |------------------------|------------------------------|-----------------------------------| | Speed | Minutes | Days/Weeks | | Adaptability | Real-time, learns from data | Static, rule-based | | Data-Driven Insights | Yes | Limited | | Integration | Seamless with other systems | Often siloed | | Personalization | High (tailored to client) | Low | | Regulatory Updates | Automatic | Manual | ## Conclusion: The Human-AI Partnership Redefined Grant Thornton’s launch of CompliAI marks a significant milestone in the evolution of professional services. By pairing skilled professionals with powerful AI agents, the firm is not only enhancing efficiency and compliance but also redefining what it means to deliver value in the digital age. For a preview: Grant Thornton’s new AI tool, CompliAI, pairs professionals with intelligent agents, transforming compliance and risk management with real-time, data-driven insights—delivering faster, smarter, and more personalized service than ever before. **