AI Councils
Operations

Policy Refresh

Keeping AI governance policies current as technology, regulation, and your organization evolve.

Why Refresh

AI technology moves fast. Policies written for traditional ML may not cover generative AI. Regulations are evolving (EU AI Act timelines, US executive orders, sector-specific rules). The organization itself changes: new business lines, new geographies, new risk appetite. A policy that is not refreshed becomes an irrelevant artifact.

Refresh Triggers

Refresh policies when:

  • Scheduled: Annual review at minimum
  • Regulatory change: New law, regulation, or enforcement action relevant to AI
  • Technology change: Adoption of a new AI capability (e.g., agentic AI, multimodal systems)
  • Incident: A significant incident reveals a policy gap
  • Organizational change: Merger, new business line, new geography, leadership change
  • Feedback: Champions or teams report that a policy is unclear, impractical, or missing

What to Review

ArtifactReview Frequency
CharterAnnually
PrinciplesAnnually (or when values/strategy change)
Risk tiering criteriaEvery 6 months
Intake and review templatesEvery 6 months
Pre-approved patterns listQuarterly
Security review checklistEvery 6 months (or on new threat emergence)
Training materialsAnnually

Refresh Process

  1. Chair flags the review: puts it on the council agenda
  2. Owner drafts updates: the artifact owner (e.g., security lead for security checklist) proposes changes
  3. Council reviews: discusses and approves changes
  4. Communicate: updated artifacts are published and champions are briefed
  5. Archive: previous version is archived with a change log

On this page