AI Governance for Managers and Executives
A plain-English executive course on governing workplace AI use — approving tools, managing data and vendor risk, requiring human oversight, documenting decisions, and setting the employee policy and training that holds it all together. For owners, executives, department leaders, HR, IT, and compliance.
What you'll learn
- Distinguish AI experimentation from approved production use, and know when a tool moves from "someone's trying it" to a decision that needs governance.
- Build and maintain an AI-use inventory — what AI is in use, by which teams, with which data, approved by whom, reviewed how often.
- Evaluate the data risk and vendor risk of an AI tool before approving it: what data flows in, where it is retained, who else can see it, and what the vendor's contract and security posture actually say.
- Assign decision rights clearly — which decisions must have a human reviewer, which can be assisted by AI with a human in the loop, and which must never be automated at all.
- Write and roll out AI-use policy and employee training that holds — short, specific, enforceable, revisited at least annually, and signed by every employee as acknowledgement.
- Set a governance roadmap: the small number of concrete steps that take your organization from "no policy and informal use" to "documented inventory, approved tools, trained workforce, and periodic review."
Requirements
- Appropriate for owners, executives, department leaders, HR, IT, compliance teams, and board members.
- Audio or captions enabled so you can follow the narrated video for each module.
- No technical AI background required — this course focuses on leadership decisions and policy, not model training or implementation. Employee-level AI safety is covered in CS-101 (Safe AI Use at Work).
Course content
7 chapters · 6 lectures · 40m total
Module 1 — Executive Accountability
AI is already in your organization whether or not leadership has approved it. The leadership gap is not that employees experiment; it is that no named role, no definition of approved use, no inventory, and no documented decisions exist. This module draws the line between experimentation and approved production use, and names the accountability that has to live at the top of the organization.
1 item
Module 1 — Executive Accountability
AI is already in your organization whether or not leadership has approved it. The leadership gap is not that employees experiment; it is that no named role, no definition of approved use, no inventory, and no documented decisions exist. This module draws the line between experimentation and approved production use, and names the accountability that has to live at the top of the organization.
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Executive Accountability Free preview6 minutes 30 seconds
Module 2 — Inventorying AI Use
You cannot govern what you have not inventoried. Every subsequent module in this course depends on a current, honest answer to the question of what AI tools are in use, by which teams, with which data, approved by whom, and reviewed how often. This module shows how to compile the first version and keep it alive.
1 item
Module 2 — Inventorying AI Use
You cannot govern what you have not inventoried. Every subsequent module in this course depends on a current, honest answer to the question of what AI tools are in use, by which teams, with which data, approved by whom, and reviewed how often. This module shows how to compile the first version and keep it alive.
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Inventorying AI Use7 minutes
Module 3 — Data and Vendor Risk
Approving an AI tool is not the same as approving another SaaS vendor. The AI-specific questions — what data flows in, what the vendor can do with it, who else can see it, how long it is retained, whether it is used to train models, and what OAuth scopes it is asking for — have to be answered explicitly before approval, not after.
1 item
Module 3 — Data and Vendor Risk
Approving an AI tool is not the same as approving another SaaS vendor. The AI-specific questions — what data flows in, what the vendor can do with it, who else can see it, how long it is retained, whether it is used to train models, and what OAuth scopes it is asking for — have to be answered explicitly before approval, not after.
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Data and Vendor Risk7 minutes
Module 4 — Human Review and Decision Rights
AI can draft faster than a person, score faster than a person, and summarize faster than a person. None of that changes who is accountable for the decisions that come out the other end. This module establishes the three categories of decision — human-reviewed, AI-assisted with human in the loop, and never-automated — and makes the governance call about which decisions sit where.
1 item
Module 4 — Human Review and Decision Rights
AI can draft faster than a person, score faster than a person, and summarize faster than a person. None of that changes who is accountable for the decisions that come out the other end. This module establishes the three categories of decision — human-reviewed, AI-assisted with human in the loop, and never-automated — and makes the governance call about which decisions sit where.
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Human Review and Decision Rights6 minutes 30 seconds
Module 5 — Employee Policy and Training
A written AI-use policy on its own does nothing. A written policy that every employee has signed, that is specific enough to tell someone what to do in a real situation, that is refreshed on a cadence, and that is backed by annual training including AI-enabled fraud scenarios, does a great deal. This module is about closing the gap between the two.
1 item
Module 5 — Employee Policy and Training
A written AI-use policy on its own does nothing. A written policy that every employee has signed, that is specific enough to tell someone what to do in a real situation, that is refreshed on a cadence, and that is backed by annual training including AI-enabled fraud scenarios, does a great deal. This module is about closing the gap between the two.
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Employee Policy and Training7 minutes
Module 6 — Governance Roadmap
Everything in the previous five modules is the destination. The roadmap in this final module is the practical sequence that moves an organization from no policy and informal use everywhere to documented inventory, approved tools, trained workforce, and periodic review. Few organizations arrive in a quarter; every organization can take the first three steps in the next ninety days.
1 item
Module 6 — Governance Roadmap
Everything in the previous five modules is the destination. The roadmap in this final module is the practical sequence that moves an organization from no policy and informal use everywhere to documented inventory, approved tools, trained workforce, and periodic review. Few organizations arrive in a quarter; every organization can take the first three steps in the next ninety days.
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Governance Roadmap6 minutes
Final Assessment
A 12-question scenario-based quiz on executive-level AI governance decisions. You need 80% or higher to pass and earn your completion certificate. You may retake the assessment as many times as needed.
1 item
Final Assessment
A 12-question scenario-based quiz on executive-level AI governance decisions. You need 80% or higher to pass and earn your completion certificate. You may retake the assessment as many times as needed.
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Final Assessment — AI Governance for Managers and Executives