AI governance: A strategic imperative for CIOs

One of the most common questions people ask is how best to approach hiring AI talent. The good news? You don't need to hire an army of AI governance experts. The principles can be disseminated across the organization if you invest the time, resources, and energy in doing so.

Take people from your existing team who are already learning the technology and train them into these new governance roles. There are infinite ways to structure this. The key is investing in your current people rather than assuming you need to build a completely new team.

Culture starts at the top. At its core, governance is about ensuring your product does what you say it does, making sure its technology works the way you think it's working, and keeping an eye on it to verify it continues performing as expected.

As CIO, you set the tone to position governance as an enabler, not a roadblock. If you embrace governance and understand its critical importance, your organization will naturally follow.

When you're ready to scale AI governance skills across your organization, here's my three-step approach:

1) Take time to understand what your program will be. Work with legal, compliance, HR, finance, engineering, product, and even marketing teams to develop a common approach.

2) Develop policies that encourage and guide AI usage, with clear guardrails and milestones for creating quality work.

3) Educate your entire team on these guiding principles. Hold them accountable, and you'll find people start teaching each other. Once everyone knows the rules, they can help each other out, and you'll scale faster than you thought possible.

Remember, this is an extension of your ongoing digital transformation. It's not all that different from what we've done before—it's just faster. The principles of good governance remain the same, whether you're talking about AI or any other digital transformation initiative.

This reminds me of a quote from Wipro’s AI and cloud solutions head, Saurabh Vadhera: “AI is only as effective as the people behind it. From mapping and analyzing business processes to designing, training, and governing models, it’s human talent that transforms AI from a tool into a strategic advantage.”

I couldn’t have said it better. When people across the organization work together, AI governance becomes more than just avoiding risk—it becomes the key to unlocking the full potential of what AI can do for your organization.