AI Governance Template for AI Products

If more than one team is building AI features, you need governance. The goal is consistency. Even small organizations benefit from a lightweight governance checklist that ensures every AI feature gets a risk assessment and basic review before launch. Scale the formality of the process to match your team size.

The policy owner should be someone with cross-functional authority, typically the VP of Product, CTO, or a dedicated AI/ML leader. The key requirement is that this person can enforce the policy across engineering, product, and legal teams. Avoid assigning ownership to a single function, since governance requires input from multiple disciplines.

AI governance extends data governance with AI-specific concerns: model training data provenance, algorithmic fairness, automated decision-making rights, and model lifecycle management. Your existing data governance policies (retention, access control, consent) apply to AI systems. This template adds the layers needed for model-specific risks. The [AI PM Handbook](/ai-guide) covers the relationship between data strategy and AI product development in detail.

When there is disagreement, escalate to the Governance Board for a final classification. Document the rationale for the decision. A useful default rule: if any single risk factor qualifies as Tier 3, classify the entire feature as Tier 3. It is better to over-classify and streamline the review process than to under-classify and discover gaps after launch.

Third-party AI services still require governance review. Your risk classification should consider: what data you send to the provider, what the provider's data retention and training policies are, what SLAs and liability terms apply, and whether the provider's safety practices meet your standards. Treat third-party model APIs as a dependency that requires its own review process, similar to how you evaluate any critical vendor. The [AI vendor evaluation template](/templates/ai-vendor-evaluation-template) provides a structured approach for this assessment.