Title: AI-Powered Corporate Governance

Speaker: Seungjoon Oh, Associate Professor, Peking University HSBC Business School

Time: 10:00-11:30, June 5, 2026 (Friday)

Venue: Room 1008, Mingde Business Building (Zhongguancun Campus)

Language: English/Chinese

ABSTRACT:

We study how generative AI adoption by institutional investors reshapes corporate governance. Exploiting the November 2022 release of ChatGPT as a quasi-experimental shock to AI adoption costs, we show that firms with greater pre-shock exposure to machine-based investors experience valuation gains and strengthened governance, including increased CEO pay-performance sensitivity, greater shareholder activism, and fewer financial restatements. These firms also undertake fewer but higher-quality acquisitions and more valuable patents, indicating improved investment efficiency. We trace these effects to two mechanisms: generative AI strengthens exit-based discipline through coordinated trading, and facilitates coalition formation with activist investors, amplifying voice-based governance.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY:

Professor Seungjoon Oh, Tenured Associate Professor of Finance at Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS). Professor Oh holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from KAIST. His research spans entrepreneurial finance, corporate innovation, venture capital, corporate governance, and mergers & acquisitions. He has published in leading journals including the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Accounting Studies, and The Accounting Review.