The 2024 proxy season demonstrated that artificial intelligence (AI)-related disclosures and governance structures currently are a subject of intense shareholder interest. Companies in a wide range of industries faced shareholder proposals, some of which received significant support—and regulators are watching. Recent statements by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials indicate that regulators will be carefully monitoring the expanding universe of AI-related corporate disclosures in order to ensure that issuers’ public statements conform to applicable laws and regulations and are not misleading to investors.

It is likely that both disclosure- and governance-oriented shareholder proposals regarding AI will gain traction in future proxy seasons. Yet despite the dizzying speed with which AI issues have proliferated in corporate America, the reassuring reality is that the “old” standards and practices governing disclosure and governance do apply to “new” topics, and AI is no exception to this rule. Companies and boards can be confident that the application of sound fundamental principles of governance and disclosure will serve them as well in this area as in others.

2024 Proxy Season Proposals