Artificial intelligence (AI) presents a regulatory frontier and is increasingly under scrutiny by both industry and governmental stakeholders. This technology is everywhere and likely already in your organization, whether you’re aware of every application and instance or not.
From an opportunity perspective, this is great news. AI for business adoption is proving to be a new essential for high-performing teams. With AI’s potential, however, come significant and wide-reaching threats. ISO certifications, such as ISO/IEC 42001:2023, help organizations mitigate risk and protect all stakeholders.
ISO 42001 is a new certification from the International Organization of Standardization to make your organization AI-ready and aware of your true AI footprint. With an ISO 42001 certification, you demonstrate to internal and external stakeholders that you’re a responsible early adopter.
This standard is designed around the need for an international certification of AI implementation and management best practices. The full framework covers three roles: AI developer, provider and user. These roles help your organization define and manage how you use AI.
Many companies are stuck right now guessing about employee AI usage and hoping for the best or issuing bans and hoping they aren’t left behind without AI’s capabilities. Instead of fearing AI and overreacting, what you need is information and oversight.
In essence, ISO 42001 takes the approach that human error is the cause of a majority of problems. Good AI governance recognizes what technology is capable of and shows you how to use policies to secure AI usage, so you don’t have to resort to extreme measures. Unlike other standards, ISO 42001 requires an AI Impact Assessment, going beyond a risk assessment so you know how AI is used internally by employees and externally by vendors and contractors.
ISO 42001 is the first framework guiding organizations through standards customized for different AI use cases: being an AI developer, provider, producer or user.
AI’s promise and value come with new risks and rapid change, prompting regulators to take a closer look. New regulations could have broad-reaching implications for anyone using AI in their work. The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, which partially went into effect in February 2025, introduced requirements and responsibilities for EU companies. U.S. regulations are expected to follow state-by-state.
In the future, we might expect AI regulations to ask organizations to document and explain AI decision-making processes, implement thorough risk assessments, and ensure human oversight and accountability for AI activity. Regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare and government contracting may see distinct requirements become new industry standards.
Getting AI certified positions your company ahead of mandatory compliance, avoiding any reactive scrambling when deadlines hit.
If you're in a C-suite role, considering an application that harnesses AI can immediately trigger concerns about privacy, information security and the developer’s obligations. Certification shows companies are serious about clearly defining how AI is used and information is protected.
When your clients are concerned about how their data is handled, used and protected in AI systems, having certification gives you the opportunity to show what type of AI you use, what data goes in, how data is protected and how data is removed. These are particularly important for SaaS companies and AI service providers, but also valuable for every other company using AI today, even if the AI is an editing app or a transcription service a vendor utilizes.
ISO 42001 features an AI impact assessment to determine how every aspect of your organization interacts with AI. Just like the proverbial iceberg that’s bigger underwater than above, your organization’s AI footprint is probably larger than you think, hidden in the many ways employees use AI applications every day. When unknown applications are AI driven, risk is harder to quantify.
As an alternative to fear-based restrictions, you can create parameters for safe AI usage based on your impact assessment. Horror-story scenarios like employees putting confidential documents into unsecured AI are preventable with monitoring and official AI policies. Once you know your true AI footprint, you can make strategic decisions to reduce liability throughout your organization and in every AI role.
As the ISO 42001 standard is new, now is a great time to stand out in your industry and be among the first to achieve certification. Soon, certification in ISO 42001 will likely be a vendor requirement for doing business with enterprise clients and customers.
For contract competitions and in vendor risk assessments, being certified can help you stand out and stay competitive. ISO 42001 is following a similar trend to ISO 27001/27701, which became Microsoft vendor requirements (SSPA) after Microsoft became certified. Microsoft and Google both recently became ISO 42001 certified themselves, signaling that they are likely to require other companies to certify if they want to compete effectively for Microsoft and Google contracts. Certification can help your company bypass annual security assessments by proving you’re taking security seriously. This 42001 certification likely gives you similar protection as more companies take a critical look at AI practices.
If you’re not sure whether ISO 42001 certification is the right move yet, it’s worthwhile to consider where you stand in relation to AI. Here are some common ISO 42001 myths and questions to consider:
Reality: AI is already everywhere and probably ubiquitous in your organization right now.
Questions to ask:
Reality: AI is already everywhere and probably ubiquitous in your organization right now.
Questions to ask:
Reality: Even if you aren’t offering an AI product, you may still have AI risk.
Questions to ask:
For companies preparing for future compliance, wanting to strengthen competitiveness and hoping to set standards for employee AI use, certification is an established process to find internal and external risk and mitigate it — important steps relevant in any industry.
If your company provides AI or SaaS offerings, is in a regulated industry or handles significant client data, then certification is even more critical.
Now that large enterprises like Microsoft and Google are getting certified, AI compliance is maturing and becoming a basic part of doing business. The specter of AI horror stories coming to life is leading organizations like the EU to fast-track regulation and it’s only a matter of time before companies start scrambling to meet new requirements.
Are you ignoring AI or waiting for technological change? AI shouldn’t become an afterthought - not when it presents such huge rewards and significant risks. Demystify AI. Learn how our audit and assurance consultants can help you achieve ISO 42001 certification and ensure your organization is effectively and securely leveraging AI technology to innovate and improve productivity.
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