Glenda Crisp: Why Responsible AI Will Be the Next Competitive Advantage for CPAs
October 13, 2026
Artificial intelligence is no longer a future consideration for CPAs: with every day bringing new headlines about the potential risks, the responsible use of AI has become key to building and reinforcing trust in the technology and in the profession.
Why Responsible AI Is a Competitive Advantage
According to Glenda Crisp, President and CEO of the Vector Institute, the organizations that will realize the greatest value from AI are not necessarily the ones moving the fastest. It’s the enterprises that build governance, transparency and trust into their AI strategies from the start that will seize its true potential and become leaders in AI adoption.
Moving Beyond Speed to Build Trust
Today, CPAs are exploring how AI can streamline processes, accelerate reporting and support decision-making – but this is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s about more than just speed: it’s about building the architectural integrity to move faster with absolute confidence.
"The vast majority of finance functions are over-indexing on doing the same things they have always done, just slightly faster," says Crisp. “But organizations that focus solely on speed risk overlooking a significant opportunity: embedding governance directly into AI deployments.”
Balancing AI Innovation and Risk
Integrating AI safely is a top concern for many organizations and Crisp says that worries around privacy, security and data governance are absolutely valid. However, she believes many organizations get stuck trying to avoid every possible risk before taking meaningful action. She argues that the greater risk is organizational paralysis, where finance leaders over-index on the belief that they must solve technical challenges all on their own.
"While you wait for a perfectly risk-free environment, global competitors are iterating and pulling ahead," she says. “The risk that’s not receiving enough attention is the cost of inaction. Canada now has three national AI institutes built specifically to help business communities navigate AI implementation securely.”
How Organizations Can Get Started with Responsible AI
Rather than viewing AI adoption as an all-or-nothing proposition, organizations should focus on getting started in a way that is thoughtful and strategic but above all, responsible.
"Responsible AI is deeply practical. It starts with defining your core KPIs, identifying your exact goals and how to measure success. Only then can you determine how AI can help achieve them," she explains. "By building models that are transparent, auditable and aligned with your values from day one, you will empower teams to move fast without breaking trust."
Canada’s Opportunity to Lead in AI
The conversation around AI also extends beyond individual firms, businesses and enterprises. Canada has long been recognized as a leader in AI research, and Crisp believes the country now has an opportunity to become a global leader in safe, ethical and commercially successful AI adoption, which requires leadership and a fundamentally new approach to how we think about the possibilities of the technology.
"We must shift the internal conversation from 'How do we replace people?' to 'What new problems can we solve?'" Crisp says. “Twenty-five years ago, you couldn’t run a business without a website; today you can’t survive without AI.”
Understanding the Limitations of AI
At the same time, Crisp reminds CPAs to recognize the current limitations of AI technology. Artificial intelligence makes highly educated guesses based on patterns and in a heavily regulated environment, a hallucination by a Large Language Model (LLM) can be a major issue.
“Claims that AI can handle a completely automated financial close at the end of the month or entirely replace the teams forecasting your financial future are pure hype at this point in time,” added Crisp.
Why CPAs Are Positioned to Lead Responsible AI
The emphasis on governance and responsible AI aligns closely with the expertise of CPAs. The profession has long been built on trust, skepticism and accountability – skill sets that are critical to make sure that the humans stay “in the lead” in navigating the deployment of AI. As it becomes integrated into finance processes, those principles will become even more important.
"AI is accelerating a necessary evolution in accounting toward highly strategic advisory services," says Crisp. "It won't replace CPAs, but it will permanently change what they do."
Getting Started with AI
Those who succeed will not be the organizations that adopt AI recklessly, nor those that avoid it altogether. They will be the ones that balance innovation with strong governance, transparency and trust. As trusted business advisors, CPAs are uniquely positioned to lead that conversation and help ensure AI delivers on its promise responsibly, ethically and effectively.
“You don’t have to deploy complex agentic AI across your enterprise tomorrow,” Crisp says. “You can start with targeted predictive AI to optimize support chains or streamline receivables. But you must get started: those who wait will be left behind.”
Glenda Crisp will be delivering a keynote speech at CPA Ontario’s AI Conference on November 5, 2026. You can still register here.