AI Governance Framework Template

A durable AI governance program starts with clarity of scope and staged maturity milestones. We implement a layered framework:

1. Foundation: inventory of AI use cases, data lineage mapping, and initial risk register creation.
2. Policy Layer: model usage standards, acceptable prompt guidelines, escalation playbook, and retention matrix.
3. Controls & Tooling: monitoring hooks for prompt/response logging, redaction modules, evaluation harnesses, and drift alerts.
4. Metrics & Reporting: scenario pass rate, hallucination exception frequency, data exposure avoidance, and control adoption coverage.
5. Optimization: quarterly risk review integrating new regulatory or contractual obligations.

Each layer is documented as versioned artifacts enabling auditability and continuous improvement. We advocate a living model card plus decision log to preserve organizational memory.