Nash Squared CIO, Ankur Anand, looks at what different components you need for a good AI policy. This article first appeared on boardagenda.com.
Board ownership of an organisation’s policy on using artificial intelligence is essential for effective governance of the technology.
As artificial intelligence and, more lately, generative AI (genAI) become more widely deployed across businesses, we are in the middle of a remarkable era of innovation and possibility. The potential of AI to boost productivity, facilitate problem-solving and enhance creativity is probably higher than anyone imagined.
However, to make the most of that potential, and to successfully bring human intelligence and artificial intelligence together in a healthy balance, guidelines and guardrails are needed. People can’t be left to use AI at work in whatever way they feel like without some clear guiding principles to follow – as well as, where necessary, red lines that should not be crossed.
Part of the governance framework
An AI policy is a foundational element of a successful approach to AI. As AI becomes more ubiquitous, an AI policy becomes part of the governance framework that any organisation functions by. A policy is not merely a ‘nice-to-have’—it is becoming table stakes in the new age we have entered.
Almost three-quarters of organisations have deployed generative AI to at least some extent.
Encouragingly, our research at Nash Squared shows that organisations are taking this on board and acting accordingly. Six months ago, in our annual Digital Leadership Report which surveys technology leaders around the world, only one in five organisations had an AI policy in place. But in a Pulse survey of tech leaders that we conducted recently, that has now doubled to 42%, while a further 38% have plans to create one.
That is a striking increase in a short period of time—and is a testament to the speed at which AI is developing and being adopted. Our survey found that almost three-quarters of organisations have deployed genAI to at least some extent to their employees and one in five have deployed it enterprise-wide.
