William Stone on AI governance
From SS&C Technologies (SSNC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call · · TEK2day Holdings
“AI is not just a gas pedal. Somebody better have a brake, and you better understand what you're doing. And if you don't, you can get hurt. I think it's pretty important that you have a company that's really primarily we're a bunch of accountants and systems people, so we understand what controls are.”
On , William Stone, Founder, Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer at SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HLDGS INC, spoke about AI governance during SS&C Technologies (SSNC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call on TEK2day Holdings.
About William Stone
On SS&C Technologies' first-quarter 2026 earnings call, William Stone stated that the company delivered strong results despite "a war in Iran, tariffs galore, spiking oil prices, and other macro headwinds," and announced that the company was raising its full-year 2026 guidance. He said the company's "conviction around share repurchase has strengthened" and that repurchases are being prioritized "absent high-quality accretive acquisitions." Stone also expressed a personal expectation that GDS would "do very well in 2026." Regarding artificial intelligence, Stone said SS&C does not view AI as a threat, noting the company is "so embedded in the things that we do" and comparing potential disruption to previous technological shifts such as the internet and client-server computing. He cautioned that "AI is not just a gas pedal" and that "somebody better have a brake," emphasizing the importance of controls given SS&C's background in accounting and systems. Stone highlighted that the company's 2022 acquisition of Blue Prism provided capabilities in robotic process automation, machine learning, and natural language processing, and that SS&C has deployed "close to 4,000 digital workers" that are being converted into AI agents, which he estimated has saved "a couple hundred million dollars a year."