05 / AI oversight
Understand what AI means for your board.
AI may already be changing how your organization works. We help the board and leadership team understand the opportunities and concerns, decide what needs oversight, and develop an approach that fits the organization.
The challenge
You don’t need to be an AI expert to ask useful questions.
Directors may be hearing about new tools, staff experiments, or concerns from members without a clear picture of how AI is being used. It can be difficult to know which questions belong in the boardroom.
We help make that conversation manageable: what the organization hopes to achieve, what could be affected, and what the board needs to understand to exercise oversight.
Sounds familiar?
- Staff use AI tools, and the board has not discussed it
- Someone has asked the board for an AI policy
- Members or candidates are asking how AI is used
- A committee wants to know who decides on AI use
Who decides what
Clear responsibilities make oversight more useful.
The right division of responsibility depends on your organization and the use of AI. These are some of the questions we help the board, management, and counsel work through together.
Board oversight may include
- Uses that could materially affect members, candidates, or the mission
- Expectations for protecting sensitive information
- Reporting on significant risks, results, and incidents
- When the approach needs to be reviewed
Management’s role may include
- Which tools to use
- How pilots run and are measured
- Day-to-day controls and review
- Staff guidance and training
Areas for legal advice
- Privacy and data protection
- Intellectual property
- Employment questions
- Regulatory and accreditation rules
How we help
Connect AI oversight to the work of your organization.
We start with what is already happening and the questions you need to answer. The work may involve helping leadership prepare for a board discussion, facilitating that discussion, or clarifying the guidance that follows.
- 01
Build a useful picture
We work with leadership to understand how AI is being used or considered, what it affects, and where the board needs more information.
AI use inventory - 02
Work through the questions
We help directors and leadership discuss benefits, concerns, responsibilities, and the decisions that require board attention.
Board oversight session - 03
Make the approach usable
We help turn the discussion into clear expectations and reporting, with counsel involved where legal or regulatory advice is needed.
Board AI guidance
Example
AI in a certification program.
Imagine a certification organization considering AI for practice materials and application screening. Staff see opportunities to save time, while candidates and directors have questions about accuracy, fairness, and trust.
The board may need to distinguish between these uses, understand how they will be reviewed, and agree on what information it wants from management. The guidance below illustrates how that conversation could be recorded.
A fictional organization, shown to illustrate the work.Exam and member services
The aim
A board that understands where AI matters to the organization and how to oversee it.
- Where we focus
- The AI uses, responsibilities, and unanswered questions that matter in your setting.
- Handled by your counsel
- Legal and regulatory questions about AI, including privacy, intellectual property, employment, and exam integrity rules.
Do you write our AI policy?
We help you work through the governance decisions behind a policy and express the board’s expectations clearly. Your counsel should advise on legal and regulatory requirements and review the provisions that address them.
Do you recommend AI tools?
Tool choices belong to management. Our focus is the board’s oversight of how those tools are used.
We are only starting with AI. Is this too early?
No. Early conversations can help the organization explore AI thoughtfully. We can start with what you are considering and the questions the board and management want to answer.
How does this relate to a Board Decision Review?
We can help with a particular AI proposal or with the board’s broader approach to oversight. You do not need to settle which description fits before getting in touch.
Related
Where AI oversight connects.
AI can raise questions about a particular proposal, the board’s role, or how management reports on its work.
What questions is AI raising for your board?
You may be considering a particular proposal or trying to understand the broader picture. We can help you think it through.