AI Governance and Policy
AI governance is not a legal formality. It is the difference between AI that makes your business stronger and AI that creates liability, inconsistency, or loss of trust.
Without a governance framework, AI in your business means: employees using personal accounts with company data, no standard for what the AI can and can’t do, no audit trail, no process for handling errors, and no clarity on who is responsible for AI decisions. With a governance framework, AI is used consistently, responsibly, and effectively — and you can demonstrate that to clients, partners, regulators, and your own leadership.
What a Governance Framework Covers
Usage policy: Which AI tools are approved for which purposes, and clear rules on what data can be shared with external AI systems versus what must stay internal.
Role definitions: Who is responsible for AI decisions, who reviews AI outputs, and who has authority to change AI-related policies.
Data handling: Classification of business data (confidential, internal, public) and corresponding rules for AI interaction with each category.
Risk management: How the organization identifies, assesses, and mitigates AI-related risks — including model errors, data exposure, and regulatory compliance.
Quality assurance: How AI outputs are reviewed and validated before acting on them, and the appropriate level of human oversight for different use cases.
Vendor management: Criteria for selecting AI vendors, contractual requirements, and ongoing assessment.
Incident response: What happens when something goes wrong — a data exposure, a significant model error, a harmful output.
Who Needs This Now
If your employees are already using AI tools (and they almost certainly are), you need a governance framework. Not eventually — now. The absence of policy doesn’t mean AI isn’t being used; it means it’s being used without controls. Forward has developed governance frameworks for businesses across industries, including regulated sectors where AI policy is increasingly scrutinized by clients and auditors.