AI governance gives an organisation a practical system for deciding which AI uses are permitted, who remains accountable, what evidence is required and how performance and risk will be monitored. Marketways connects those governance decisions to the behaviour, evidence, intended use and business consequences of each model or agent.
When to use this service
This service may be useful when:
- AI tools, models or agents are already being used without one accountable inventory or consistent approval route.
- An organisation is preparing to deploy AI in a workflow where errors could affect customers, employees, money, operations or important decisions.
- Leadership needs to define what AI may do, which uses require stronger evidence and where human authority must remain.
- A third-party AI product is being procured, integrated or materially updated.
- A model, data source or operating environment has changed, raising questions about whether earlier evidence still applies.
- Incidents, inconsistent outputs, bias concerns or recommendations without a clear basis have created concern.
- The board, risk function or management team needs reporting that connects AI activity to ownership, performance, exposure and remediation.
What we assess
The scope is agreed around the organisation's AI use and the management question. Relevant areas can include:
AI governance and model risk
AI governance is the organisational arrangement through which leaders set permitted use, accountability, evidence requirements, controls and review. Model-risk assessment examines whether an individual model or agent behaves reliably enough within that arrangement.
A policy alone does not establish control. The organisation needs to know which systems exist, how they influence work, what data and tools they use, who can change them and how management will recognise when operating conditions no longer match the evidence used to approve the system.
Marketways connects governance to the business reality in which the system acts. The assessment establishes where reliance is supported, where conditions or safeguards are required and where the proposed use should not proceed. Accountability remains with the organisation using the system.
Scope boundary
Marketways supports AI governance design, model-risk assessment and decisions about scoped reliance. The service does not provide legal advice, regulatory certification, ISO certification, penetration testing or independent cybersecurity assurance. Specialist legal, regulatory and security responsibilities remain with appropriately qualified advisers and accountable organisational functions.
Business value
- Make the AI estate visible. Bring approved systems, embedded vendor features and material unofficial uses into an accountable view organised by purpose and consequence.
- Apply proportionate governance. Distinguish low-consequence assistance from systems that influence customers, employees, money or material operations, then require evidence and control accordingly.
- Define appropriate reliance. Compare evidence about system performance and limits with the intended use. Leaders can distinguish supported uses from those that need safeguards, further testing or should stop.
- Protect meaningful human authority. Clarify where AI influences or exercises authority and where review, escalation, override or human takeover must remain workable.
- Control vendors and material change. Treat a new provider, model version, data source, integration or workflow as a change to the operating system rather than a routine technical update.
- Turn findings into management action. Connect risks and control gaps to owners, priorities, review points and explicit continuation or remediation decisions.
Related services
AI Governance and Model Risk is part of Business Threats. It addresses technology and model-related conditions that could harm the business, weaken its position or put its future at risk.
[Decision Assurance](/services/decision-assurance/) may be relevant where a consequential business decision depends materially on an AI or analytical system. [Process and Workflow Analysis and Redesign](/services/process-workflow-analysis-redesign/) is relevant when the issue lies in how people, information and technology operate together. [Business Feasibility Study](/services/business-feasibility-study/) may be useful where management is deciding whether a proposed AI investment is viable and worthwhile.The services required after an AI risk assessment depend on its findings. They do not form a compulsory sequence.
How Marketways connects governance to evidence
We begin with the organisation's business purposes, AI uses and accountable decisions. Governance design then identifies the inventory, decision rights, risk categories, policies, review routes and reporting the organisation needs.
For material systems, evaluation examines task performance, uncertainty, subgroup behaviour, robustness, drift, tool use and failure modes using evidence that reflects the intended workflow. We also examine how outputs enter human judgement, when escalation occurs and who can restrict or stop the system. The result is a governance arrangement informed by system evidence rather than policy language alone.
Methods and technologies that support this service
Marketways selects, combines and adapts the method mix to the business question, the available evidence and the decision the analysis must support.
Getting ready
Bring the system, its intended use, the decisions or actions it affects and examples of its outputs or known concerns. Marketways will define the assessment boundary, material failure modes, evidence partitions, performance tests and escalation rules required to judge whether the system is dependable enough for use.
Related AI pathway
[AI Agent Evaluation and Assurance](/ai/ai-evaluation-assurance/) provides the focused route when management needs experimental evidence about a defined system and an explicit release, restriction or continuation decision.Discuss the scope
Discuss the AI systems and uses already present, the authority they receive, the decisions they affect and the concerns management needs to resolve. We can agree a scope around the organisation's priorities, evidence, resources and level of reliance under consideration.