According to the 2026 edition of the Global Disputes Forecast, According to a study conducted by Baker McKenzie, 86.1% of Brazilian corporate legal leaders cite risks related to technology and data as a key factor driving an increase in legal disputes, exceeding the global average of 80.1%. The study surveyed 600 legal leaders worldwide, including 100 in Brazil, and clearly shows that AI, cybersecurity, privacy, and digital regulation have definitively moved to the top of the senior management agenda.
In parallel, the Brazilian regulatory environment itself reinforces this shift. The ANPD published the Map of Priority Themes for Inspection in 2026–2027 and updated the Regulatory Agenda 2025–2026, maintaining its focus on themes such as data subject rights, biometric data, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies in the context of personal data processing. This signals increased regulatory scrutiny, greater predictability of inspections, and a growing demand for governance over data and automated decisions.
The new scenario: legal risk, operational risk, and reputational risk in the same package
For many years, technology was primarily seen as a driver of productivity, scale, and innovation. This role remains valid, but it has become incomplete. Today, the same digital infrastructure that accelerates sales, operations, customer service, and data analysis also expands the company's exposure surface.
When an organization adopts AI without clear governance criteria, maintains critical data in a scattered manner, operates with fragile access controls, or fails to demonstrate compliance throughout the information lifecycle, the risk is no longer just technical. It begins to affect contracts, audits, investigations, reputation, business continuity, and, in more severe cases, the very value of the business. This reading aligns with Baker McKenzie's 2026 analysis, which highlights the intersection of technology, regulation, geopolitics, and cross-border data flows as a major driver of corporate disputes.
AI without governance is passive, not a competitive advantage
The acceleration of artificial intelligence in the corporate environment has expanded the potential for efficiency gains, but has also increased the risk of improper data use, automated decisions without transparency, exposure of sensitive information, and compliance failures.
The core problem isn’t using AI. It’s using AI without architecture, policy, traceability, and control. The World Economic Forum noted that 66% of organizations expect AI to have the greatest impact on cybersecurity, but only 37% say they have processes in place to assess the security of AI tools before deployment. In other words: adoption is moving faster than governance.
For companies, this requires an objective change in posture: AI cannot enter the organization solely as an isolated experiment by business areas. It needs to operate within a corporate model of security, compliance, information classification, access management, and continuous monitoring.
Cybersecurity is no longer an IT-exclusive topic
Another central point of the current scenario is that cyber incidents can no longer be treated solely as a technical area problem. The financial and institutional impact is material. According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach in Brazil reached R$ 7.19 million in 2025, with greater pressure on information-intensive and critical operation sectors.
This data helps explain why cybersecurity, privacy, and technology are at the top of legal and corporate concerns. The incident is no longer just about system unavailability. It can lead to breach of contract, regulatory investigation, reputational damage, litigation, operational paralysis, and loss of trust from clients and partners.
Therefore, the digital protection agenda needs to be treated as a business agenda. The board, management, legal, compliance, security, technology, and operational areas need to work in an integrated manner.
The Brazilian challenge is even greater
In Brazil, the topic gains additional weight for three reasons.
The first is the speed of the digitalization of operations, including in traditional companies, which have become more intensely dependent on connected ecosystems, cloud, automation, analytics, and AI. The very Global Disputes Forecast show that, in the country, the perception of risk in technology and data is higher than the global average.
The second is the advancement of data protection inspection and regulation. The ANPD's updated agenda confirms that artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are already on the regulatory radar, alongside data subject rights, biometrics, and public sector data processing.
The third is the broader context of business complexity. The same study notes that 77% of Brazilian legal leaders view geopolitics and trade policy as significant threats, and also highlights the persistence of tax disputes in an environment of greater coordination among tax authorities and adaptation to tax reform. This means that digital risk is not isolated: it intersects with global supply chains, contracts, compliance, taxation, and reputation.
What do companies need to do now
In light of this scenario, the corporate response should not be reactive. It should be structural. In practice, this means advancing on five fronts:
Data Governance
Map critical data, define rules for processing, retention, access, sharing, and disposal, with clear accountability among departments.
2. Security by Design
managing exposure with identity controls, access segregation, monitoring, incident response, and protection of environments, applications, and integrations.
3. AI with policy and traceability
Establish guidelines for AI use, criteria for data consumption, model validation, human review when applicable, and logging of automated decisions.
4. Continuous compliance
Treat LGPD, contracts, regulatory requirements, and compliance evidence as an operational routine, not as a one-off action.
5. Executive Risk Overview
Translate technical risk into business impact: financial, legal, reputational, and operational.
Where Lumini can add value
In this new environment, companies don't just need technology suppliers. They need partners capable of connecting infrastructure, data, security, governance, and execution.
It is precisely at this point that Lumini IT Solutions understands technology needs to operate: not just delivering modernization, but creating secure foundations for growth, efficiency, and compliance. In Data & AI, Development, and Infrastructure/Cloud projects, the priority should not only be implementing faster solutions, but structuring more reliable, controlled environments that adhere to the business's regulatory reality.
From now on, companies' digital maturity will be measured less by the volume of tools adopted and more by their ability to use technology without unnecessarily increasing their legal, operational, and reputational exposure.
Conclusion
The message for 2026 is straightforward: technology, data, and artificial intelligence continue to be drivers of competitiveness, but they can no longer be treated solely as matters of innovation or efficiency. They have become central elements of corporate governance and risk management.
Organizations that understand this sooner will be better prepared to grow safely, respond better to regulatory demands, and transform digital governance into a real competitive advantage.
