EP 13 — Early Warning's Daniel Maynard on AI Governance and Data Risk Management

In this insightful episode of The Future of Data Security, Jean Le Bouthillier speaks with Daniel Maynard, VP of Privacy and Data Risk Management & CPO at Early Warning, shares his journey from law to privacy and offers a practical framework for assessing AI implementation risks — distinguishing between controllable technical risks and more complex model provenance concerns. 

Daniel tells Jean about the critical challenges facing financial institutions, including data quality issues, AI ethics considerations, and the paradox of balancing fraud prevention with privacy protection. Daniel provides actionable governance strategies for managing shadow AI, addresses emerging threats from AI-powered fraud, and offers valuable insights on the evolving regulatory landscape. His balanced approach emphasizes documented risk assessment processes while acknowledging varying organizational risk tolerances.

Topics discussed:

• The importance of data quality as a foundation for all other security and privacy initiatives in financial services.
• Emerging challenges with AI ethics and trust, particularly regarding data provenance and transparency in model development.
• Practical governance frameworks for implementing AI tools while documenting risk-based decision processes with executive buy-in.
• Model provenance risks and IP concerns when using AI tools to create potentially valuable intellectual property.
• Shadow AI challenges and strategies for managing employee use of AI tools while maintaining appropriate security controls.
• File access risks with AI assistants that can search through user-accessible content more thoroughly than humans typically would.
• The paradoxical relationship between stronger fraud protections and potential negative privacy impacts from increased data collection.
• Predictions about federal AI regulation in the United States versus the more restrictive approach seen in Europe.
• Career advice for privacy professionals, including gaining cross-functional experience and maintaining a positive, problem-solving mindset.