AI oversight: a board’s first conversation
Help your board discuss where AI is being used, what is at stake, and what it needs to oversee.
- Three pages
- Free for boards and their staff
When this helps
AI is already part of the work, but the board’s role is still taking shape.
A board does not need to choose every tool to ask useful questions about AI. It does need a view of where it is being used, the decisions it affects, and how management will recognize and respond when something goes wrong.
What’s inside
Useful oversight starts with useful questions.
01
A starting picture of AI use
Ask management for the purpose, people affected, information involved, and level of human review—not just a list of products.
02
Questions proportionate to the stakes
Distinguish routine assistance from uses that affect people, important commitments, or sensitive information.
03
Oversight that continues after the meeting
Agree boundaries, accountability, reporting, and the changes that should bring a use back for discussion.
Putting it to work
Start with AI that is already affecting the work.
Choose a meaningful use
Ask management to describe an AI use that matters to the organization: its purpose, the people affected, and the information involved.
Explore the stakes together
Discuss the intended benefit, what could go wrong, and how people would notice. Bring in specialist advice where the questions call for it.
Agree how oversight continues
Clarify ownership, boundaries, and what management will bring back to the board as the use develops.
Download the guide
Make space for a useful first conversation about AI.
Bring the guide to your board and management team. Start with the uses and questions that matter to your organization.
- A practical starting point for your board
- Free for boards and their staff
AI oversight: a board’s first conversation
Guide · PDFWant help putting these ideas to work?
A resource can give you a starting point. We can help with the questions and conversations behind it.