(inVeritas)

An Arkansas company is leading the charge to meet a growing business demand — consulting for artificial intelligence (AI) use.

InVeritas, a public affairs firm based in Little Rock, has developed a comprehensive AI consulting practice. And according to CEO Ruth Whitney, it’s one of only a few firms in the country with agency-wide certified AI consultants.

The company also has offices in northwest Arkansas and Washington, D.C., with around 10 to 15 employees.

Whitney is certified in AI by the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in England, and the rest of the inVeritas team holds certifications in AI from other institutions. The certification credential signifies a strategic understanding of AI for business and leadership rather than technical or coding proficiency.

InVeritas’ AI practice is made up of three services: business consulting, education through its AI Academy, and AI content verification and research.

Through the consultancy service, inVeritas does a “deep dive” into client goals, operations and comparable business sector advancements. Then, the firm puts together a series of recommendations about specific AI applications that would help streamline internal operations or upgrade services. But Whitney said she doesn’t promote AI unless it actually has real applications for a client.

“That’s sort of the meat of the business consultancy,” Whitney said. But the company also offers an AI Academy, aiming to “demystify” uses of the technology.

The academy “is not a course for engineers or an Instagram reel that promises a promotion,” the company’s website states. Instead, it’s a plainly worded collection of resources the company develops and updates for professionals, teams and leaders.

The academy includes articles on trends, tools and use cases, FAQs that address common concerns and misconceptions, real-world examples of AI in action and curated resources for deeper learning.

The third branch of inVeritas’ AI consultancy is research and verification.

“We’ve built a reputation as a trusted resource for helping clients identify inaccuracies, helping them preserve their credibility and ensure compliance,” Whitney said. “We draw on that expertise to help clients in the AI space, and that includes reviewing their AI communications, verifying content before it’s released to key audiences.”

Some of the biggest client needs right now, Whitney said, are education around the AI landscape and help adding guardrails around the risks of using the technology.

The company has major clients like Bank of America, the Arkansas State University System and Pattern Energy, one of the world’s largest private power producers. But new clients have been increasingly reaching out for the company’s AI services.

“We’ve had incredible traffic to our company, and it’s playing a growing role in our business,” Whitney said. “We’re getting more and more calls about AI, how we can help, and we certainly expect the trend to accelerate.”

And the AI consultancy has been profitable, Whitney said, though she declined to share how profitable.

In August, inVeritas released a report on the state of AI in Arkansas, with plans to publish more. According to a study cited in the report, 43% of all U.S. corporations have begun integrating AI into their operations, including 70% in the technology sector, 57% in finance and 41% in manufacturing.

And while Whitney said Arkansas is ahead of the curve when it comes to AI, she doesn’t think anyone grasps the extent of the “tsunami.”

“While the disruptive impact of AI is a given, it’s less clear how companies are going to meet those challenges,” Whitney said. “AI can be embraced as a tool for innovation and productivity and advantage, and if you don’t do that, you certainly will risk losing ground to people who are more innovative.”