This article is adapted from The Privacy Filter podcast series, a Barnes & Thornburg briefing on data security and privacy. To subscribe to The Privacy Filter, click here.

For years, the traditional in-house legal model followed a familiar rhythm: the business moved quickly, legal reviewed carefully, and decisions came to the legal team when they were ready for a final assessment. That model worked when legal risk was easier to isolate and business decisions followed a more predictable path.

AI is changing that.

By the time an AI-enabled product, workflow, or customer offering reaches legal for review, many of the decisions that shape risk have already been made. Data has been selected. Processes have been designed. Business assumptions have been established. The foundation for future legal and regulatory questions may already be in place.

The result is a fundamental shift in how legal teams create value. The modern general counsel is increasingly moving from a reviewer of decisions to a participant in shaping them.

Legal Is Moving Closer to the Business

AI has accelerated a trend that was already underway: the expansion of the GC role beyond traditional legal functions.

Today’s legal leaders are expected to understand the products their companies build, the markets they serve, and the operational decisions that drive growth. This is especially true for organizations developing or deploying AI, where legal considerations intersect with product strategy, data governance, security, compliance, and customer trust.

Erika Sylvester, General Counsel at healthcare conversation intelligence company Authenticx, has seen that evolution firsthand. As a legal leader at a company where AI models support healthcare operations and involve sensitive data considerations, her role extends far beyond traditional contract review.

She regularly works alongside product and engineering teams, participates in customer conversations, and helps navigate questions around data use, privacy, security, and AI governance.

That type of engagement reflects a broader change: Legal teams are increasingly being asked to understand not only whether something can be done, but how it should be done.

AI Governance Is a Business Function, Not Just a Compliance Exercise

Organizations often approach AI governance as a question of ownership: Should it sit with legal? Compliance? Security? Technology?

The better question may be: How do these functions work together to create a practical governance model?

AI risk does not fit neatly into one department. It involves legal interpretation, technical implementation, operational processes, and business judgment Unlike traditional compliance programs, AI governance often requires navigating uncertainty. Regulations continue to evolve. Technology changes rapidly. Business use cases expand faster than policies can anticipate.

That environment requires organizations to build flexible governance frameworks — ones that provide clear guardrails while allowing innovation to continue.

At Authenticx, Sylvester has seen the value of moving quickly from informal conversations about AI use to documented policies and processes. Written guidance helps create consistency, answer recurring questions, and establish expectations across the organization.

The goal is not to eliminate risk. It is to understand and manage it.

I think that really requires legal oversight, legal understanding, and some ability to fill in that gray so that we can be the advisors to the company… 'Hey here's some risk in this, but this may be worth it for our business to lean in and here are some mechanisms that we can operationalize that may be applicable to each of these different legal regimes and approaches to how to manage AI.'

The Best Legal Teams Build Trust Before They Need to Exercise Judgment

One of the biggest challenges for legal teams supporting innovation is avoiding the perception that they are slowing progress.

In an AI environment, that perception can become particularly damaging. Teams developing new products and workflows need legal guidance early — not after significant time and resources have already been invested.

The most effective legal partners build credibility by demonstrating that they understand the business objectives behind a request. They ask questions before raising objections. They look for solutions that address risk without unnecessarily limiting opportunity.

For Sylvester, that has meant approaching product and engineering conversations with curiosity: understanding what teams are trying to accomplish, learning the technology behind the request, and finding ways to solve problems rather than simply identifying roadblocks.

This requires a different relationship between legal and business teams — one based less on approval authority and more on shared problem-solving.

The Next Generation of Legal Leaders Will Be Comfortable Learning in Public

For many lawyers, the pace of AI development creates an uncomfortable challenge. Legal training traditionally rewards expertise, precision, and certainty.

AI demands something different: curiosity.

Legal professionals do not need to become technologists overnight. But they do need enough familiarity with the technology to ask better questions, identify emerging risks, and understand where their expertise can add value.

That means experimenting with AI tools. Following developments across industries. Learning from technical colleagues. Becoming comfortable saying, “I don’t know yet, but let’s figure this out.”

Sylvester describes this as becoming comfortable with discomfort — recognizing that legal professionals may need to learn alongside the business rather than waiting until they have every answer.

The ability to operate in uncertainty may become one of the defining skills of the modern legal leader.

AI is not simply changing the technology businesses use. It is changing how organizations make decisions — and where legal teams fit into those decisions.

The future of the general counsel role will belong to leaders who can balance protection with progress: those who understand risk, embrace innovation, and help their organizations move forward with confidence.

Watch the Full Episode

Listen to the full conversation with Erika Sylvester on The Privacy Filter.

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