Companies have high hopes for transformational technologies, especially those that leverage the vast amount of data being collected. Approaches using methods such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and deep learning are becoming increasingly accessible and gaining significant traction, as they allow for deep insights to be extracted from large and varied data sets. As noted in the 2019 IT Audit survey by Protiviti and ISACA, this transformation has the potential to fuel long-term growth. However, as Protiviti's recent global AI survey reveals, most companies are still at the starting gate when it comes to figuring out the answers to basic questions: What are the possible use cases for AI? Can we measure ROI? What data do we have and how usable is it?

Humans can differentiate between a conversation with a human and a conversation with a robot. Furthermore, they are able to make jokes, write poetry or recognise a lie by a person's voice or mimic. Can AI such as Eliza take over the activity of internal auditing? As mentioned, by asking the simplest questions, almost everybody can access information. How intelligent must AI become in order to be able to act as an internal auditing system, and what would be the role of humans in this process?