Ep. 291: Pioneering in the AI Front w/ Martin Preedy (Reddit)

This week on The Audit Podcast, Martin, Head of Internal Audit at Reddit, joins the show to discuss why the opportunity for internal audit is bigger now than ever and how auditors can move from backseat drivers to helpful copilots.

Martin shares how he learned Reddit's complex digital advertising business by being a humble "sponge". He explains his unique hiring strategy—hiring for a "major" in deep technical craft (like data science or engineering) and teaching the "minor" of audit later. He also breaks down his approach to navigating tough risk conversations and reveals how his team uses generative AI to automate 70% of their recurring SOX testing.

02:32 How Martin Uses AI in His Personal Life

03:45 The One Thing Every Auditor Should Do

06:06 How to Learn a New Business Quickly

07:30 Why Internal Audit Has Its Biggest Opportunity Yet

10:13 Rethinking Audit Hiring: Specialists Over Traditional Auditors

14:12 Teaching Audit Skills to Technical Experts

16:12 How to Have Tough Conversations About Risk

18:04 AI Use Cases Inside Reddit's Internal Audit Team

21:24 Final Thoughts

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