The set of rules, roles, controls and evidence that keeps AI systems within the limits an organisation or a state has chosen. It decides which systems may run and what they may do, and draws on law such as the AI Act 1, management-system standards 2, risk frameworks 3 and principle sets 4.
- Developed in
- What is AI governance?
ch. 12, The organisation as an object of governance - Chapters
- ch. 01, Definition · ch. 12, Governance Program · ch. 22, Principles & Standards
- Contrast with
- AI governance engineering
- Source
- 4 numbered references, listed below
Where it is used
20 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.
- 00 · Preface Opening 9 mentions
- 01 · Definition Opening 13 mentions
- 02 · Why Now Opening 13 mentions
- 03 · Values & Principles Opening 3 mentions
- 04 · The Stack Opening 6 mentions
- 05 · Patterns Opening 3 mentions
- 06 · The Role Opening 18 mentions
- 07 · Maturity Model Opening 3 mentions
- 08 · Regulatory Map Other jurisdictions 4 mentions
- 10 · Reading List Opening 12 mentions
- 11 · AI Defined Opening 1 mention
- 12 · Governance Program Opening 10 mentions
- 14 · Development Design review 4 mentions
- 15 · Deployment Opening 5 mentions
- 16 · Fairness & XAI How to read this chapter 1 mention
- 17 · Incidents Playbooks, RACI and drills 4 mentions
- 19 · Privacy & AI Opening 1 mention
- 21 · AI Laws Worldwide The landscape at a glance 6 mentions
- 22 · Principles & Standards How to read this chapter 2 mentions
- 23 · AI Agents Opening 4 mentions
Patterns that use this term
33 pattern pages use the term; the 10 that use it most:
- Use-Case Intake & Risk Tiering 2 mentions
- Policy Card 1 mention
- Eval Gate in CI 1 mention
- Adversarial Red-Team Suite 1 mention
- Agent Registry 1 mention
- AIBOM 1 mention
- Model Card as Control Evidence 1 mention
- Continuous Assurance Telemetry 1 mention
- Runtime Guardrail 1 mention
- Kill Switch / Circuit Breaker 1 mention
Related terms
Sources
- [1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), consolidated text as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI, in force 27 Jul 2026; definitions in Art. 3, incl. 3(1), 3(3) to 3(14), 3(14b), 3(20), 3(22), 3(23), 3(29) to 3(32), 3(49), 3(55) to 3(57), 3(60), 3(61), 3(63), 3(68); Arts. 4, 5, 6 (incl. 6(3) third subparagraph, profiling), 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22 to 27 (incl. 26(11)), 40, 41, 43, 47, 48, 50, 53 (incl. 53(1)(c)), 55, 57, 60, 72, 73, 86; Annexes I, III, IV). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2026-07-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng (verified: primary)
- [2] ISO/IEC 42001:2023, AI management systems (referenced by identifier only; requirements for an AI management system; clause 10.2 nonconformity and corrective action). ISO/IEC. 2023. https://www.iso.org/standard/81230.html (verified: secondary)
- [3] Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), NIST AI 100-1 (risk tolerance and residual risk; seven trustworthy characteristics; transparency answers "what happened", explainability "how", interpretability "why"; MAP 1.1 intended purposes; MANAGE 1.1 go/no-go determination; profiles). NIST. 2023-01-26. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.AI.100-1 (verified: primary)
- [4] Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence, OECD/LEGAL/0449 (adopted 22 May 2019; AI-system definition revised 8 Nov 2023; revised 3 May 2024; five principles and five recommendations; 1.3 enables people adversely affected to challenge an output; definitions of AI system, lifecycle and AI actors). OECD. 2024-05-03. https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0449 (verified: primary)
Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .