The AI Project Governance Framework (AIPGF)
Integrate AI governance in your AI-assisted projects and programmes, and get the benefit of ethical, efficient and effective human-AI project collaboration.
What is the AIPGF?
The AIPGF is:
- a structured, pragmatic framework to govern the use of AI in projects and programmes;
- a mechanism to facilitate the ethical, efficient and effective use of AI assistance in projects – mitigating risks while enhancing project success;
- a methodology-independent framework, designed to complement existing approaches like Agile, PRINCE2®, PMBOK® and hybrid methodologies; and
- a way to practically and tangibly comply with regional and international AI regulations and standards (such as the EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001 and NIST AI Risk Management Framework).
Why Important?
AI capabilities are evolving rapidly, making AI assistance in projects increasingly accessible and valuable.
Now is the time to establish the foundation for responsible AI governance in project environments. By embedding a governance framework – while AI adoption scales, and AI tools advance toward greater autonomy – organisations can proactively safeguard ethical, efficient and effective AI integration.
Without proper governance, organisations face increased project risks, regulatory issues and loss of stakeholder trust.
Listen to the AIPGF audio summary created by NotebookLM
AIPGF Fast Fact Cards
(click on an image to download a pdf)
AIPGF Responsiveness
The AI Project Governance Framework (AIPGF) features a responsive design built on the foundational principle of adaptability. This enables the AIPGF to scale appropriately across projects of varying size, complexity, and risk – from small, short-duration agile projects to large, multi-year transformational programmes. The Framework’s application should be tailored to the project’s level of AI adoption and automation, with more robust implementation as these factors increase.
How the AIPGF Activates ISO 42001
AIPGF is not an alternative to ISO/IEC 42001 – it’s how you activate it in AI-assisted projects and programmes.
ISO 42001 sets the standard for AI Management Systems. The AIPGF brings it to life in the specific context of projects and programmes.
Whilst ISO/IEC 42001 focuses on the “what” and “why” of AI management at the organisation level generally, the AIPGF focuses on the “what, why, and HOW” for project environments specifically.
The AIPGF provides tangible and actionable guidance
for governing how AI is used in project environments.
Who Needs to Know About the AIPGF?
A wide range of professionals will benefit from understanding and being able to apply the AIPGF.
Project Portfolio and Strategic Oversight Roles
Portfolio Leaders, Strategic Programmes Office teams, Enterprise PMO Leaders, Project Sponsors and Steering Committees/Boards
Project and Programme Delivery Roles
Programme Managers, Project Managers, Change Managers, Project Coordinators, Team Members, Data Owners, Data Custodians
Governace, Assurance and Compliance Roles
Chief AI Officers, Digital Transformation Leaders, AI Ethics Advisors, Internal and External Auditors, Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Teams
Listen to snippets of Emanuela's interview on AI
with Nicky McCrudden on the Heart & Graft podcast
Frequently Asked Questions
The AIPGF is a structured yet flexible framework designed to guide organisations in the ethical, efficient, and effective use of AI in their projects and programmes. It provides practical guidance and templates, the necessary processes, roles, and principles to manage AI-related risks in projects, while maximising its benefits. Whilst Standards like the ISO/IEC 42001 provide high level organisation-wide governance requirements, the AIPGF activates these international standards at a practical level in AI-powered projects specifically.
AI introduces unique challenges that traditional project management frameworks don’t explicitly address. These include the “black box” nature of some AI tools, the risk of algorithmic bias, complex data privacy issues, and the need for clear human oversight. The AIPGF provides a necessary layer of governance to manage these specific risks.
Since 2023, several international and regional standards about AI governance have been published. Three examples are:
- ISO/IEC 42001
- EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)
- NIST AI Risk Management Framework, developed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology
These are examples of robust standards that provide a framework for organisations to manage the risks and responsibilities associated with developing, deploying, and using artificial intelligence. They aim to ensure that AI is used in a way that is ethical, transparent and trustworthy. These standards are generalised at the organisation level for any use of AI in any scenario.
What’s missing is guidance on how to practically govern the ethical, efficient and effective use of AI in projets specifically. That’s where the AIPGF comes in: practical, tangible guidance for governing AI use in projects and programmes.
No, it enhances your existing methodology or project approach by embedding ethical, efficient and effective use of AI assistance throughout the project life cycle. The AIPGF integrates seamlessly with any chosen project methodology or approach. Integrating the AIPGF into your existing processes means you can govern, and demonstrate governance of, AI usage in project environments.
A wide range of professionals will benefit from understanding and being able to apply the AIPGF:
ACCOUNTABLE FOR GOVERANCE OF AI USAGE: PORFOLIO AND OVERSIGHT ROLES
- Portfolio Leaders
- Strategic Programme Office (SPO), Project Management Office (PMO) and Enterprise PMO Leaders
- Project Sponsors and Steering Committees/ Boards
RESPONSIBLE FOR GOVERNANCE OF AI USAGE: PROJECT AND PROGRAMME DELIVERY ROLES
- Programme Managers
- Change Managers
- Project Managers
- Project Coordinators
- Project Core Team Members
GOVERNANCE, RISK AND COMPLIANCE ROLES
- Chief AI Officers and Digital Transformation Leaders
- Other Organisational Leaders and Executives
- Internal and External Auditors
- Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Teams
No, the AIPGF is about governing the use of AI assistance in project envoronments. This could include projects that create AI solutions. However, it is also relevant to any type of project – engineering, marketing, research, biotech and more. Any type of project or programme that uses one or more AI tools to assist the project effort will benefit from applying the AIPGF.
The term “AI-assisted projects” refers to projects and programmes that are using AI tools. These tools could be used to assist in project management, e.g. drafting a Business Case, a Project Charter, a Risk Assessment, Stakeholder Mapping, etc. AI tools could also be used to create project deliverables, e.g. a project to host an event may use an AI tool to draft the event Agenda, or provide the text for a keynote speech. A marketing project may use an AI tool to design the Marketing Campaign.
These are all examples of AI assistance in projects.
Tools that provide AI assistance in projects can include Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. It could include tools that are integrated with your software suite, e.g. Microsoft Copilot. There are also AI-powered project management tools like Taskade, ClickUp, Forecast and many others. With the rise of task automation through AI Agents, governance of AI usage is particularly important.
Yes. The Adaptability principle is key here. For smaller projects, you can apply the “spirit” of the framework in a lightweight manner. For example, instead of creating separate, formal documents, you could add an “AI Assistance” section to your existing Project Charter and include AI-related risks in your standard risk register.
Latest News and Insights
The AI Project Governance Framework (AIPGF) offers a sensible methodology for facilitating ethical, efficient and effective human-AI project collaboration.
- Can be integrated with a chosen project management methodology or approach, such as Agile, PRINCE2, PMBOK or hybrid approaches.
- Provides structured and scalable AI governance, supporting projects and programmes of varying size, complexity, risk and AI adoption maturity.
- Facilitates and encourages a high standard of ethical, efficient and effective use of AI in projects and programmes.
By implementing the Framework, organisations can systematically govern AI use across their portfolio of projects and programmes, as their AI adoption scales and as AI tools evolve. The accompanying AI Project Governance Capability Maturity Model (AIPG-CMM) can be used to establish maturity benchmarks and actions towards continuous improvement.
Disclaimer
The AIPGF is intended to provide practical guidance for governing the use of AI in projects and programmes. The author (Emanuela Giangregorio) expressly disclaims all liability to any person or organisation arising directly or indirectly from the use of, or for any errors or omissions in, the AIPGF guidance. The adoption and application of the guidance is at organisation discretion and is their sole responsibility.
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Aikaizen Limited is a company registered in England and Wales, and trades as Project Management in Practice (PMIP).