Your First 30 Days

You've decided your organization needs an AI Council. This page gives you a concrete, four-week plan to go from zero to a functioning governance body. Each week builds on the last, and every step links to the detailed guidance elsewhere in the toolkit.

Week 1: Sponsorship and Charter

Your first job is to secure authority and define the council's purpose.

Find a C-suite or senior executive willing to be accountable for AI governance. This person sets the tone, allocates resources, and resolves escalations. Without a sponsor, the council has no mandate. See Roles and Membership for the sponsor role definition.

Name a council chair

Identify who will run the council day-to-day. This should be a senior leader with cross-functional credibility, typically the head of AI, data, or responsible technology. The chair will drive everything that follows.

Draft the charter

Use the Model Charter to define the council's mission, scope, authority, and accountability. You do not need a perfect document. Aim for a working draft that the sponsor and chair agree on. You will refine it in week 4 after running your first meeting.

Choose an operating model

Read Governance Structures and Choosing Your Model. Most organizations should start with a centralized or lightweight hybrid model. You can evolve toward federation later as AI adoption grows.

Week 1 deliverables: Named sponsor, named chair, draft charter, chosen operating model.

Week 2: Membership and Principles

Now build the team and establish the council's normative foundation.

Recruit initial members

Aim for 6-10 cross-functional members. At a minimum, you need seats for AI/ML engineering, legal, security, privacy, and at least one business operations representative. See Roles and Membership for the full role structure and selection criteria.

Do not wait for the perfect roster. Start with who is available and willing. You can add members later.

Adopt principles

Review the Principles page and select 6-8 principles aligned to your values and regulatory context. The model set in the toolkit is a strong starting point. Circulate the draft principles to members before your first meeting for feedback.

Set up a communication channel

Create a dedicated channel (Slack, Teams, or equivalent) for council members. This will be your primary coordination space outside of meetings.

Week 2 deliverables: Initial member roster, draft principles, communication channel.

Week 3: Intake Process and Inventory

With the team in place, set up the operational engine.

Create an AI inventory

Start a register of all known AI systems in your organization. Use the AI Inventory template. The first version will be incomplete, and that is fine. The goal is to establish the practice and begin filling gaps.

Set up the intake form

Adapt the Use Case Registration form for your organization. Decide where it will live (a form tool, a shared document, a ticketing system) and make it accessible to anyone submitting AI use cases.

Define risk tiers

Review the Risk Tiering framework and customize it for your context. Agree on examples for each tier that make sense in your organization. This is one of the most important decisions the council will make, so bring it to your first meeting for discussion.

Establish routing logic

Review Routing Logic and define who reviews what. For week 3, a simple rule is enough: Tier 1-2 cases are handled by the chair, Tier 3+ go to the full council. You can add champions and specialists later.

Week 3 deliverables: Draft AI inventory, intake form, draft risk tiers, basic routing rules.

Week 4: First Meeting and Cadence

Bring it all together.

Run your first council meeting

Use the Agenda Template from the Meetings and Decisions page. For your first meeting, the agenda should include:

Introductions and charter walkthrough
Principles review and adoption
Risk tiering review and adoption
Review of the AI inventory (what do we know about today?)
Intake process walkthrough (how will new cases reach us?)
Meeting cadence decision (fortnightly or monthly?)

Months 2-3: Process your first batch of intake cases. Refine the tiering and routing based on what you learn. Expand the champion network.
Month 4: Conduct your first Tier 3 review using the Impact Assessment template. Identify gaps in your review instruments.
Month 6: Run a Policy Refresh cycle. Review what is working and what needs adjustment. Deliver your first Quarterly Report to the sponsor.
Ongoing: Build Training and Literacy programs, deepen your Monitoring practices, and mature the governance program over time.

The toolkit is designed to support each of these steps. Start simple, learn fast, and evolve.