AI agents enter regulatory processes, but they need to be traceable
Workiva presented Agent Studio during the Amplify 2026 event, held on September 15. According to the company, the tool lets you create, customize and schedule AI agents without writing code, using the organization's knowledge and governed workflows.
The announcement includes applications for regulatory reporting and audit testing. According to Workiva, the agents can gather evidence, carry out recurring steps and leave a trail of the work done. The promise is to expand teams' capacity without increasing manual effort in the same proportion.
The problem doesn't end with “no code”
Building an agent has become simpler. Deciding where it can act is still a management task. A regulatory workflow involves authorized sources, permissions, exception criteria and people responsible for reviewing the result.
Without these definitions, automation just speeds up a badly designed process. A report can be produced faster and still use an old version of the document, ignore an exception or fail to make clear which evidence supported the conclusion.
What needs to be defined first
- Which process will be run and which part stays under human review.
- Which sources and data the agent can consult.
- How permissions, evidence and changes will be recorded.
- What happens when information is incomplete or the case falls outside the rule.
This design also helps choose a first use case. Recurring tasks, with known inputs and clear criteria, are usually better candidates than open decisions or situations that require unprecedented interpretation.
Speed needs to fit within accountability
The Workiva case shows how agents can support routines that need to be defensible before customers, audits and regulators. The gain shouldn't be measured only by how many steps were automated, but by the quality of the output, the time saved and the ability to explain how the result was produced.
Sources
Workiva, 15 Sep 2026. https://investor.workiva.com/news-releases/news-release-details/workiva-advances-regulatory-work-ai-innovation