In the current landscape, trust in Artificial Intelligence has shifted from a back-office IT concern to a primary board-level risk. While marketing departments may lean on “responsible AI” as a slogan, ISO 42001 provides the first global standard that allows an organisation to actually prove its systems are trustworthy, rather than merely well-marketed.

The Architecture of Risk

Deploying AI without a clear governance blueprint is effectively betting your brand on systems you cannot fully explain. This “black box” approach creates a profound vulnerability, leading to outcomes that can cost an organisation in very real ways:

• Algorithmic Opacity: Decisions that cannot be justified to clients, boards, or auditors when a system fails.
• Invisible Bias: Automated choices that quietly marginalise groups until a regulator or journalist intervenes.
• Evidentiary Gaps: Documentation that does not exist when it is needed most—during an investigation or a high-stakes RFP.
• Legal Exposure: Fragmented AI experiments across departments with no single point of accountability.

ISO 42001: More Than a Checklist

ISO 42001 is the world’s first certifiable standard for an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS). It is not a one-off task, but a structured way to govern AI across its entire lifecycle—from selection to retirement.

This framework provides commercial gravitas. By sitting atop existing standards like ISO 27001, it allows you to evidence due diligence to partners and regulators rather than simply asking them to “take your word for it”.

Building Brick by Brick

Trust is not a “vibe” or a vision statement; it is earned through deliberate, transparent choices. For many, the first move is a targeted gap analysis or cleaning up a high-impact use case—such as recruitment or customer scoring—to create a clear paper trail.

To move from “experimenting” to a state of being “under control,” you need a partner who understands the nuance of people and process, not just technical clauses.

Why Partner with Me?

Our approach bridges the gap between technical compliance and organisational change. We bring an ISO Auditor mindset, having spent years designing management systems that survive the rigour of certification rather than just looking impressive on paper.

However, standards fail if they lack human buy-in. Using my coaching experience, I align leadership and turn potential stakeholder resistance into genuine ownership—a critical shift when AI begins to influence jobs and power structures. My focus is on pragmatic implementation, delivering risk assessments, system registers, and training that your non-technical teams can actually use.

If you cannot clearly answer who owns the AI risk in your organisation, it is time to talk. To help you begin this journey, I have developed an ISO 42001 Readiness Checklist to help you identify where your governance stands and where you are currently exposed. You can find it here: