Building an AI Audit Mentor: Lessons from the Front Lines of Agentic AI

The Institute of Internal Auditors Presents: All Things Internal Audit In this companion episode to Internal Auditor magazine's "The NextGen Audit Mentor," Marko Horvat sits down with Sarah Kuhn to explore how she built an AI-powered "audit mentor" to support auditor onboarding, training, and professional development. Kuhn shares how a simple idea to scale knowledge sharing evolved into an agentic AI tool that helps auditors learn, ask better questions, and navigate their careers. The conversation covers practical lessons for implementing AI, managing guardrails, fostering adoption, and ensuring AI enhances rather than replaces auditor judgment. HOST: Marko Horvat, CPA, Chief Financial Officer ,ELB Learning GUEST: Sarah Kuhn, CIA, CRMA, CCSA Principal Audit Consultant KEY POINTS: Introduction [00:00–00:01:30] Understanding Agentic AI and Identifying the Problem [00:01:31–00:04:27] Building and Testing the Audit Mentor [00:04:28–00:08:50] IIA Membership [00:08:51–00:09:27] Driving Adoption and Building Trust [00:09:28–00:13:02] Why the Tool Is a Mentor, Not an Answer Bot [00:13:03–00:17:14] Career Development, Coaching, and Quality Review [00:17:15–00:21:47] Preserving Auditor Judgment and Preventing Overreliance [00:21:48–00:25:42] Lessons Learned: Keeping AI Agents Focused [00:25:43–00:28:47] The Future of Agentic AI in Internal Audit [00:28:48–00:31:17] Final Thoughts [00:31:18–00:32:20] IIA RELATED CONTENT:  Interested in this topic? Visit the links below for more resources: The NextGen Audit Mentor — Internal Auditor magazine (August Issue) IIA Membership <a id="OWA58f7c37d-2a88-700b-babb-d534297f3e7a" class= "x_OWAAutoLink" title= "https://www.theiia.org/en/standards/2024-standards/global-internal-audit-standards/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=22100717904&utm_content=174821656482&utm_term=iia%20audit%20standards&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22100717904&gbraid=0AAAAADsnbmzrccWUNrcaezU3tqZKeGyb4&gclid=Cj0KCQjwucDBBhDxARIsANqFdr08xknZvGDSPOIRLC41f9Hk7-ycG2NaEy9tMs13xnjcEE9I-PeaowYaAkv0EALw_wcB" href= "https://www.theiia.org/en/standards/2024-standards/global-internal-audit-standards/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=22100717