KI-generiertAI-generatedAI-ready reporting:Why digital first and XBRL matter more than ever
An interview with Martin DeVille, recognised XBRL expert and author of numerous articles on Digital Reporting.
Artificial intelligence is changing how investors consume corporate information. Increasingly, AI assistants are the first to analyse annual reports, making machine-readable disclosures a strategic advantage rather than a technical requirement.
Daniel Schön from mms spoke with Martin DeVille about AI-ready reporting, Digital first strategies and why companies need to rethink the role of the annual report.
Who actually controls a company's narrative in the age of AI – the team or the algorithm?
Martin DeVille: The company still controls its narrative by deciding and approving the content. But investors increasingly begin with AI assistants, which decide what information is surfaced and summarised. The first impression of a company may therefore depend less on the report itself and more on how well AI can understand it. Companies are no longer competing only for investor attention—they are competing for AI comprehension.
The company controls the narrative, but AI curates it.
To what extent are companies underestimating the shift from reporting as communication to reporting as machine-readable data?
Martin DeVille: Many organisations still view digital reporting as a regulatory exercise. In reality, AI can only analyse corporate information if it is published in a structured, machine-readable format. Reports that exist only as PDFs—or only within regulatory filing packages — are difficult for AI to discover and interpret. Making information machine-readable is becoming just as important as making it available.
In the past, the focus was on telling a consistent story. Today, it is about being correctly read and interpreted.
What makes a corporate publication truly AI-ready?
Martin DeVille: A clear narrative remains essential, but structure is equally important. Well-structured HTML combined with inline XBRL enables AI to understand information accurately. Many companies still see XBRL purely as a compliance requirement, when in fact it provides the semantic context AI needs to interpret corporate disclosures correctly.
Good HTML and XBRL ensure that AI understands the company as intended.
Are companies reporting to humans or increasingly to machines?
Martin DeVille: Both. The annual report remains a document for people, but AI is increasingly the first reader. It decides what information is highlighted and how companies are compared with competitors. Machine readability has therefore become a strategic communications issue – not just a technical one.
What actually makes corporate disclosures AI-ready – and where do most companies get it wrong?
Martin DeVille: Most companies still follow a PDF-first approach. While PDF remains valuable for human readers, it offers little semantic structure for AI. A Digital First approach—creating reports natively in HTML with inline XBRL—makes disclosures accessible to both humans and machines while improving accessibility and discoverability.
PDF isn't the problem. PDF-first reporting is.
Why do even large organisations still struggle with inconsistent figures, versioning issues and media breaks?
Martin DeVille: Because many reporting processes still rely on disconnected tools and late-stage conversions. Creating a PDF first and converting it afterwards introduces unnecessary complexity and leaves little time to correct issues. An integrated Digital First process allows data, content and XBRL tagging to evolve together, improving quality and reducing manual effort.
At what point does poor system integration and data structure become a disadvantage?
Martin DeVille: The disadvantage begins when AI understands your competitors better than it understands your company. If investors increasingly rely on AI-generated summaries and comparisons, organisations with structured, machine-readable disclosures gain a clear visibility advantage.
AI readiness is becoming a competitive advantage.
What are the three most important decisions companies should make when modernising their reporting?
Martin DeVille: First, adopt a Digital First approach instead of building reports around PDF. Second, validate data and XBRL continuously throughout the reporting process. Third, automate and integrate reporting workflows to reduce manual effort and improve quality, allowing teams to focus on communicating the company's story.
Looking ahead, what will the annual report look like in five years?
Martin DeVille: The annual report will still communicate strategy, performance and outlook, but it will be published in multiple formats – HTML, PDF and inline XBRL. For people, it will remain a report. For AI, it will become a structured information source that is easier to analyse, compare and understand.
The annual report is evolving from a static publication into a dynamic information asset.
About Martin DeVille
Martin DeVille is a recognised authority in XBRL with more than 20 years of experience in digital reporting. He has led regulatory reporting projects from conception to delivery, served on the executive team of XBRL Europe, and continues to contribute to the standards community. Through his blog, XBRL Made Simple, he regularly shares insights on the future of digital reporting.
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