Diligent’s ACL AI Studio Brings Plain Language AI to GRC Analytics
In the increasingly high-stakes world of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), data is everywhere—but access and usability have long been limited to specialists. Diligent, a leader in AI-powered GRC software, just made a bold move to change that with the launch of ACL AI Studio, a natural-language AI tool designed to put powerful data analysis in the hands of every audit, compliance, and risk professional.
Unveiled at the IIA International Conference, ACL AI Studio sits at the intersection of Diligent’s deep GRC roots and the next generation of AI-driven productivity. It’s part of the Diligent One Platform, which also includes AI-powered products like GovernAI and AI Risk Essentials, aiming to consolidate GRC operations into a more intelligent, user-friendly ecosystem.
What Makes ACL AI Studio Different?
Let’s cut to the chase: Most audit and compliance professionals don’t code. That’s a problem when analytics tools still expect users to speak SQL or script in ACL syntax. ACL AI Studio changes the game by offering natural language analysis—meaning users can ask complex questions of their data in plain English, with AI interpreting and executing the requests.
In practical terms, that means a risk analyst can type, “Show me policy violations related to travel expenses last quarter,” and get a detailed breakdown, audit trail, and even AI-suggested next steps—all without writing a single line of code.
But this isn’t just another general-purpose chatbot bolted onto a dashboard. ACL AI Studio is purpose-built for GRC. That means it comes equipped with:
- GRC Persona-Based AI: Tailored analytics recommendations for internal audit, SOX, compliance, and risk use cases.
- Legacy ACL Integration: Seamlessly leverages existing ACL scripts, so nothing breaks and no retraining is needed.
- Scalable Real-Time Performance: Analyzes entire data populations—millions of records—so teams don’t have to settle for sample-based reviews.
- Transparent Results with Full Traceability: Every AI action is logged and exportable, satisfying audit trail requirements and mitigating hallucination risks.
Closing the Gap Between Insight and Action
With tools like AI-Recommended Tests, the platform proactively suggests what to look for, helping even non-technical users identify outliers, fraud indicators, or compliance gaps. Findings can be immediately linked to audits, workflows triggered, and risk scoring updated—all inside the same platform.
“Diligent hit the mark with ACL AI Studio,” said Paul Chaney, CEO of Auditopia, a 35-year user of ACL. “It combines the trust of legacy ACL with cutting-edge usability. Our teams are moving faster and delivering more insight.”
This is a clear response to a problem many GRC teams face: tool sprawl and analysis paralysis. While competitors like Workiva, MetricStream, and Galvanize have made inroads into GRC modernization, few have nailed the “governance-first” AI approach. ACL AI Studio’s tight integration with legacy tools and native GRC design may just be the differentiator the market has been waiting for.
Expanding the AI Toolkit: Control Mapping and Generation
Beyond ACL AI Studio, Diligent also introduced AI Control Mapping and AI Control Generation—two new features aimed at reducing the manual burden of control documentation and management. These capabilities auto-map controls to frameworks and help create new controls aligned to risk context, further streamlining compliance efforts.
Together, these launches reinforce Diligent’s position as one of the few platforms offering end-to-end AI-enhanced GRC, from issue detection to remediation workflows.
ACL AI Studio isn’t just another analytics upgrade—it’s a usability revolution for GRC. By merging the depth of ACL’s legacy analytics with the intuitive accessibility of AI, Diligent has made it possible for every team member—not just data experts—to extract real insight from complex datasets.
If you’re in GRC and tired of wrestling with disconnected tools and opaque data pipelines, ACL AI Studio may be the clarity you’ve been waiting for.
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