Before an analyst or shareholder opens your proxy, an AI tool may already have skimmed it, summarized it, and flagged what it found.
So here’s a question worth asking: if a machine read your governance section today, would it get the story right?
Why this matters now
Investors, analysts, and proxy advisors use AI tools to get through filings faster, especially during proxy season when hundreds land at once. These tools handle clear text well. They have trouble with things proxies often rely on: key details placed inside graphics, terms that change from page to page, and phrases that sound reassuring but say very little.
When a tool hits one of these gaps, it either guesses or skips. Either way, your board’s work gets lost.
What makes a board disclosure hard to read
- Director skills shown only as a matrix graphic, with no text version
- “Independent director” in one section and “outside director” in another, with no explanation of the difference
- Attendance and committee details spread across several sections
- Lines like “the board remains committed to strong oversight” with no detail on what the board actually did
Four simple fixes
- Put key facts in text. If it’s in a chart or graphic, say it in a sentence too.
- Choose one term and keep it. Define it once, then use it the same way throughout.
- Keep related facts together. Board composition, independence, and attendance belong in one place.
- Say what happened. “The audit committee met [number] times and reviewed [topic]” tells a reader far more than “the committee provided robust oversight.”
The good news
These are the same habits that make a proxy easier for people to read. A disclosure that a machine can follow is usually one a busy shareholder can follow too.
Curious how your board disclosures read to an AI tool? Get in touch with us.