Organizations face mounting pressure to govern artificial intelligence (AI) systems responsibly. Though traditionally utilized for information and technology governance, COBIT is uniquely positioned to address the distinct challenges AI systems introduce, including issues related to ethics, accountability, transparency, and compliance.
ISACA’s new white paper, Leveraging COBIT for Effective AI System Governance, explores how COBIT’s structured approach provides a holistic, lifecycle-based model that guides organizations on how to align AI initiatives with strategic business objectives, optimize resource allocation and mitigate AI-specific risk.
The white paper provides an overview of COBIT and how it can be applied to AI technology governance and management by integrating its principles into each stage of the AI lifecycle—from design and development to deployment, operations, and monitoring.
For example, in the deployment phase, COBIT’s BAI domain can be leveraged to address how AI systems are integrated into the business. This domain ensures secure and efficient implementation, and that proper testing and validation processes are in place.
The paper also explores several challenges organizations may face when integrating AI into their governance and management practices, such as the lack of clear ownership of AI governance often resulting in fragmented oversight and difficulty aligning AI systems with the overall business strategy. In addition to challenges, the paper includes five AI risk categories enterprises should consider: ethical usage risk, policy and governance risk, technology and infrastructure risk, operational and organizational risk, and emerging and strategic risk.
Some of the benefits to using COBIT for AI technology outlined in the paper are: aligning AI initiatives with broader organizational strategies, ensuring clear ownership for each AI initiative, and ensuring that AI systems remain reliable, compliant, and ethically sound.
The COBIT framework not only facilitates resource optimization and enhances accountability but also builds a foundation of trust in AI initiatives. Using COBIT can better equip organizations to handle the fast-evolving landscape and the challenges of AI adoption, while building resilience in AI-enabled operations.
To download the full white paper, visit https://www.isaca.org/resources/white-papers/2025/leveraging-cobit-for-effective-ai-system-governance.