Information Governance and AI: Live from ARMA InfoCON 2026

Lee Karas and Maura Dunn take What Counts on location for the first time. They recorded this episode live from ARMA InfoCon 2026 in Savannah, Georgia. In this short check-in, they explain why information governance and AI belong in the same conversation. Back to Our Information Management Roots For both hosts, InfoCon is a return to their information management roots. It is also their first InfoCon since ARMA adopted the name. Their goal for the week is simple. They want to talk with records and governance professionals and learn what those practitioners see in their own organizations. Then they will bring those lessons back to the show. Why Governance Comes First The core point of the episode is direct. Governance is the critical path to proving that AI output deserves trust. An AI tool can only leverage the content you give it. So you must prove that content first. Know which version is the record, where it lives, who owns it, and how long you must keep it. Records managers already own the disciplines that supply that proof. A records retention schedule ties content to the business process that created it. Defensible disposition clears out redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data. Legal holds preserve what must not change. Access controls keep sensitive material out of the wrong answers. Skip these steps, and your AI tools draw from more noise and repeat more risk. That is why we expect information governance to take off as AI adoption grows. Governance proves your information, and AI puts it to work. This is our first live shot. We hope you will join us for the next one. Episode Chapters 00:00 Welcome to What Counts, live from ARMA InfoCon 00:30 Back to our information management roots 00:51 What brought us here: governance in the world of AI 01:14 Why governance is the critical path to trustworthy AI 01:34 Our first live shot and sign-off What Counts is produced by TrailBlazer Consulting, LLC and hosted by Lee Karas and Maura Dunn. Learn more or reach out directly at [email protected]. Explore compliance-ready corporate training programs at the TrailBlazer Learning Academy. Read more from Maura at Maura’s Substack. Music by Jason Blake. Full disclaimer.