By Brazil Stock Guide — Just seven of the 336 boards of directors of Brazilian listed companies with shares traded on B3 — about 2% of the total — have at least one member with documented executive experience in artificial intelligence, according to a study by C&S Governança Corporativa Integrada. In data and analytics, the presence is even smaller, limited to four boards.
Despite the rapid spread of AI tools across corporate operations, the figures show that direct experience with emerging technologies remains rare among the boards responsible for overseeing company strategy. Cybersecurity experience appears on just three boards, while digital and innovation backgrounds are present on 16% and broader technology experience on 15%.
The study covered all 336 Brazilian listed companies with shares traded on B3, encompassing 2,171 board seats held by 1,838 individuals. It relied on public information from regulatory filings submitted to Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission, or CVM, as well as data from the regulator and B3, the country’s stock exchange.
The contrast with more traditional boardroom expertise is stark. About 90% of boards have at least one member with experience in strategy and execution, 75% in finance and M&A, and 62% in risk, compliance and ESG. Some 87% include at least one former CEO or chief executive.
By comparison, the category the study calls Technology and New Frontiers — which includes technology, digital transformation, innovation, data and AI — is represented on only 28% of boards. Looking at individual seats, just 5% are held by people with experience in that category, compared with 46% with a background in strategy and execution.
Even where technology expertise exists, it tends to be concentrated. At 75 of the 94 boards with such experience, or 80%, it rests with a single individual, meaning one board departure could remove that expertise altogether.
A comparison between 2022 and 2026 shows that Brazilian boards changed more on the regulatory front than on technology. Among the same 317 companies tracked over the period, the share of boards with experience in Risk, Compliance and ESG rose from 54.6% to 61.8%, an increase of 7.3 percentage points and the only statistically significant change among the five dimensions analyzed.
Technology and New Frontiers, by contrast, was essentially unchanged, slipping from 28.7% to 28.4%. People and Organization declined from 13.2% to 11.7%.
The increase in risk-related expertise was driven mainly by legal and regulatory backgrounds, up 7.6 percentage points, and sustainability and ESG, up 5.7 points. The period also coincided with new requirements on governance, board independence, diversity and disclosure for listed companies, although the study cautions that the data do not establish a causal relationship.
The limited shift in technology came despite significant board turnover. Between 2024 and 2026, 31% of the 2,069 seats analyzed changed hands, and incoming directors were almost twice as likely to have technology experience as those who remained — 7.5% versus 4.3%.
The net effect, however, was small. Thirty boards gained technology experience while 27 lost it, leaving overall coverage only slightly higher, at 28.4% from 27.4%.
Overall, just 10 of the 336 boards, or 3%, have experience across all five dimensions assessed by the study. The most common combination is Strategy, Finance and Risk, found on 97 boards.
At the same time, 220 boards — roughly two-thirds of the total — have no member with executive experience in either technology or people management. Only 16 have experience in both areas.
The study stresses that it measures declared executive experience rather than individual knowledge or capability. For an area to count, a company’s regulatory filing must show that the director held an executive role or function related to that field.
That means a board member with deep knowledge of artificial intelligence gained as an investor, academic, consultant or committee member may not be captured by the data. Academic degrees, courses and certifications are also excluded.
Even with that caveat, the study paints a picture in which the addition of AI and broader technology expertise to Brazilian boards is moving far more slowly than the adoption of those tools across corporate strategy and operations.
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