The Digital Trust Summit in Brussels left me with something I haven’t felt at many AI conferences lately: optimism. For the past several years, too many conversations about AI have started and ended with fear. Yes, the risks are real. Yes, the stakes are high. But in Brussels, the tone was different. The focus wasn’t on whether AI is too dangerous to govern. It was on how to build the guardrails that let innovation move faster, more safely and with greater public trust.

That shift in tone mattered, especially because the summit came just ahead of the August 2 milestone when the EU AI Act goes into full effect. The setting underscored the moment: The event took place near the European Parliament and included policymakers, innovators, artists (like Cate Blanchett, Steven Soderbergh, and Darren Aronofsky) and even the co-authors of the Act. Yet what stood out most wasn’t a heavy-handed regulatory mindset. It was a serious effort to answer a more challenging question: How do we accelerate safe innovation rather than slow it down?

Governance as an enabler of innovation

That’s why the European perspective deserves attention well beyond Europe. Roughly half the room was filled with Americans, including leaders from AI companies at the cutting edge of development, there to understand how to get this right. They weren’t treating guardrails as a tax on innovation. They were treating governance as part of the infrastructure organizations need to adopt and scale AI responsibly. One idea from the summit captured that spirit perfectly: using AI to help police AI misuse. Another was an emerging framework from RSL Media, which would allow developers to check whether content has the necessary consent before it’s used, much like standards that helped govern content distribution in earlier eras of the internet. These are exactly the kinds of practical mechanisms that can reduce harm while increasing confidence for companies, creators and consumers alike.

What I found encouraging was how pragmatic these conversations felt. The focus wasn’t on restricting AI's potential, but on helping organizations adopt it with greater confidence and accountability.

Dominique Shelton Leipzig, host and founder of the Summit and CEO of Global Data Innovation, put it this way: “The time for theorizing is over. At Global Data Innovation, we translate the governance frameworks being built at the multilateral level into the architecture boards and operators need to act on them. Our Digital Trust Summit is an extension of that advisory work, connecting leaders with practical solutions, technology, and access to regulatory decision-makers. Innovation does not scale at the speed of technology. It scales at the speed of trust.”

When board oversight lags behind adoption

The conversation may have taken place in Brussels, but the implications reach much further. At the summit, we shared new research from Diligent Institute and Corporate Board Member showing that 82% of directors now use AI for boardroom purposes, up from 66% in fall 2025. But only about 30% of companies have an AI usage policy for the board. Directors are already experimenting with AI, learning from it and using it to support board work. In many organizations, however, it’s clear the governance around that usage is still taking shape. If the EU AI Act signals anything, it’s that governance can no longer be an afterthought. Boards don’t need to become AI engineers, but they do need clear policies, better oversight and tools designed for secure, transparent boardroom use. The future of AI will be shaped not only by what technology can do, but by whether institutions are prepared to govern it wisely. The Digital Trust Summit made one thing clear: Trustworthy AI is possible. The challenge now is making sure governance evolves quickly enough to support the innovation already underway.