The Challenge
AI is moving faster than governance can keep up, and it’s our problem.
This time things really are different. They’re worse.
To survive a technology revolution
Drew Cukor led AI adoption at the Pentagon and at one of the world’s largest financial institutions. In May 2026 he wrote in Fortune:
“The companies that survive the next decade will be the ones that take themselves down to the studs, dismantling legacy processes, legacy org charts, legacy assumptions about how work gets done, and rebuilding as AI-native. Not AI-augmented. AI-native. There is a difference, and it is the difference between competitiveness and obsolescence.”
Managing risk with limited resources
But is a “down to the studs” transformation right for every organization? In the same article Cukor is dismissive of many controls — is that prudent? Stanford reports AI-related incidents escalating dramatically. IBM found that nearly every organization that suffered an AI breach had no access controls in place.
Gartner predicts more than 40% of AI projects will be canceled by 2027, not because the technology failed, but because governance did not exist to support it. The National Bureau of Economic Research surveyed nearly 6,000 executives and found nine out of ten firms saw no measurable return from AI. Gallagher found that most businesses have not adopted formal risk management for AI at all.
You could use a little help
Artificial Intelligence can be configured and used to help meet these challenges. Tedious tasks can be automated, customized interactive training and simulations can be offered just-in-time, and complex research can be simplified. AI offers transformative potential but must be built and tuned for specific industry knowledge and use cases. These technology innovations are not distant possibilities – some are ready today, and some just over the horizon.
Our Services
IT Internal Audit and Risk Advisory
For audit and risk professionals who need reliable help and have enough on their plate already.
Quick, capable resourcing
In a world full of change, deadlines somehow stay fixed. Audits still happen and SOX testing is still required. Controls still need to be designed, tested, and remediated. Now AI sits on top of everything else, bringing risks that did not exist three years ago.
Staffing has never been harder — COVID, remote work, and mid-career burnout hollowed out a generation of experienced professionals and made recruiting a nightmare. If your team is stretched thin, that is not a management failure. It is the environment we are all operating in.
Methods Meridian steps in and gets the work done. No steep learning curve, no hand-holding required. Years of experience across regulated entities, small public companies, and Fortune 50 conglomerates means we have seen it before, probably more than once. We deliver results your board and external auditors can rely on, without adding to your workload.
AI Governance and Risk Management
For organizations adopting AI without a governance infrastructure to match.
Structured analysis and insight
Organizations are deploying AI faster than they are governing it. Tools are adopted, decisions automated, data processed — often before anyone asks what the risks are or who owns them. That gap belongs to someone. Probably you.
Boards and audit committees are directing management to demonstrate that AI is being governed responsibly. We help you build the framework that delivers on that mandate — working with legal counsel, IT, information security, finance, HR, and business unit leaders to make governance stick. External auditors are asking harder questions about AI every cycle. We find answers before the questions are asked. Drawing on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, we assess your risks, design and implement controls, and build a governance framework tailored to your environment. Documented, defensible, and built to hold up to scrutiny.
Sustainable Capabilities
For organizations that want the capability to live here permanently.
And sustainable processes
The best governance functions run on documented processes, trained people, and a quality management discipline that improves over time. We design and embed the processes, frameworks, and training that turn projects into permanent capabilities — policy and governance training for controls teams, professional standards and methodology training for internal audit, and AI awareness and information security training for the whole organization.
The training we build is customized to your environment, interactive, on-demand, and useful rather than obligatory. You operate it, improve it, and own it. Your IIA and Yellow Book quality management obligations are real and current. Sustainable capability is how you meet them.
Our Firm
We are ready when you are
Audit, governance, risk, and compliance work was never described as exciting. Right now, unfortunately, it is. The arrival of AI as both a challenge and a tool has made this one of the most uncertain times our profession has faced. Methods Meridian exists because the right experience, genuine curiosity, and a practical approach can make a real difference.
The training we build is customized to your environment, interactive, on-demand, and useful rather than obligatory. You operate it, improve it, and own it. Your IIA and Yellow Book quality management obligations are real and current. Sustainable capability is how you meet them.
With seasoned professionals to help
Experienced Leadership
David Smith co-founded Methods Meridian and has spent his career moving between large public accounting firms, independent consulting, and regional firm leadership. That path built something that does not come from staying in one place — broad exposure to how governance and risk management work across different organizations, industries, and regulatory environments, combined with the independence to apply that experience in the client’s best interest every time.
David holds CISA and PMP certifications, an MBA with a concentration in Information Systems, and a post-graduate certificate in AI from the University of Texas. His LinkedIn profile has the full picture.