AI Governance Checklist

What this template is for

The AI Governance Checklist helps organizations review whether the basic control structure around an AI initiative is explicit enough to support responsible rollout.

It is useful when leaders want to move quickly but still need clarity around ownership, policy, approvals, monitoring, and escalation.

Who should use it

• Risk, compliance, and governance stakeholders reviewing AI initiatives.
• Enterprise architects and platform owners defining operating rules.
• Transformation teams preparing a production rollout.
• Executive sponsors who need a governance baseline before scale.

What’s inside the template

• Checklist areas for ownership, policy scope, data handling, security, and acceptable use.
• Approval checkpoints for launch, expansion, and material change.
• Auditability and logging prompts.
• Review rules for model changes, workflow changes, and control exceptions.
• Escalation prompts for incidents, failures, or boundary breaches.

How to use it

1. Review the checklist before an initiative moves from pilot to implementation.
2. Mark each item as defined, partial, or missing.
3. Record who owns unresolved items and when they will be addressed.
4. Re-run the checklist before major release points or governance reviews.

When to use it

• Before production deployment.
• During procurement or architecture approval.
• When several teams need a shared governance baseline.

When not to use it

• When the team is only brainstorming early-stage ideas with no implementation path.
• When legal or regulatory review is required and the checklist is being treated as a substitute.
• When governance questions are already fully embedded in another enforced standard.

Expected business outcome

The checklist reduces governance blind spots. It helps teams detect missing approvals, undefined ownership, and weak review discipline before those issues create operational or regulatory risk.

PDF version

The supporting PDF is revealed on this page after the short form below is submitted.

Typical governance prompts

• Who owns the system when behavior changes?
• What actions require human approval?
• What evidence is retained for audit and review?