When I last spoke with Gaurav Kapoor five years ago, we were in the thick of a global pandemic. Remote work was still a novelty for many, AI was a distant concept for most businesses, and regulatory frameworks were trying to keep pace with the speed of technological change. Fast forward to today, and the conversation around AI and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) has shifted dramatically. This made it the perfect time for a long-overdue catch-up.

In this episode, I welcomed back Gaurav, Vice Chairman and Co-founder of MetricStream, to discuss the changing face of GRC in an AI-driven world. AI has now reached a level of ubiquity that places it alongside electricity and Wi-Fi as a foundational layer of both business and everyday life. But with that integration comes risk, and with risk comes the need for smarter, more adaptive governance.

Gaurav shared how AI is no longer just about efficiency gains. It is becoming embedded into the fabric of enterprise risk frameworks, from real-time regulatory monitoring to predictive analytics and risk forecasting. We talked about the impact of the current political climate, including policy shifts following President Trump's return to office and how deregulation narratives are colliding with the complexity of global compliance expectations.

This was not just a theoretical discussion. Gaurav broke down real-world use cases that show how large enterprises are navigating everything from redundant compliance testing to emerging threats discovered through AI-driven analysis. He also spoke candidly about the challenges ahead, how companies can fall behind if they wait too long to modernize their frameworks, and what is at stake when they fail to build trust into their AI systems.

So how do you evolve GRC in an age where the pace of change is relentless? What role does AI really play in risk leadership today? And how can companies move from reactive to proactive without losing control? Join me as we explore the next chapter of GRC with one of its leading voices.