Internal Audit's 'Independence' is a Proxy: AI Demands a Shift to Provable Objectivity

This article argues that internal audit's traditional concept of "independence" is an outdated proxy for provable objectivity, a weakness exposed by the rise of AI. It highlights how the IIA's own recent guidance implicitly acknowledges this by defining independence along a continuum and decomposing it into specific elements. For audit and assurance professionals, this is a critical call to action to move beyond a borrowed, ill-fitting term and instead build a robust, evidence-based governance architecture that ensures and demonstrates the trustworthiness of audit conclusions, especially as AI increasingly integrates into audit processes.