Overview

AI is increasingly embedded in enterprise platforms, vendor systems, automated decision-making, generative AI tools and emerging agentic workflows. Organisations need visibility over where AI is being used, clear accountability for its use, proportionate risk controls, reliable documentation and reporting, and effective oversight throughout the AI lifecycle.

Sibenco helps boards, senior executives and organisations establish and strengthen AI governance arrangements that integrate with existing corporate governance, enterprise risk management, information governance, privacy, cybersecurity, procurement, records and assurance processes. Our focus is practical implementation: governance that is understood, documented and capable of operating across the organisation.

We work with organisations at different stages of AI maturity, from those establishing their first enterprise AI governance arrangements to organisations seeking to strengthen oversight, assurance and controls as AI use expands.

 

What effective AI governance needs to achieve

• Enterprise visibility over AI systems and use, including embedded and vendor-supplied AI.
• Clear accountability across the board or governing body, senior executives, business owners and specialist functions.
• Proportionate risk assessment, controls, human oversight, documentation and escalation.
• Integration with corporate governance, enterprise risk, privacy, cybersecurity, information governance, records, procurement and third-party governance.
• Reliable board and executive reporting, monitoring and assurance that can adapt as AI technology, regulation and organisational use change.

 

AI Governance services

AI Governance Review and Roadmap

A structured review of current AI governance arrangements, use, accountability, policies, risk processes, reporting and assurance. We identify gaps, dependencies and priorities and provide a practical roadmap proportionate to the organisation’s AI use, regulatory environment and risk profile.

• AI governance maturity/readiness review
• AI governance gap analysis
• Governance priorities and staged implementation roadmap
• Review of alignment with current Australian guidance, relevant legal obligations and recognised standards

AI Governance Framework and Implementation

Sibenco develops or uplifts the enterprise AI governance framework and operating model, then works with boards, senior executives and internal specialists to translate the framework into practical arrangements across the organisation.

• AI governance framework and overarching AI policy
• Roles, responsibilities, decision rights and committee or governance arrangements
• AI visibility, register or inventory governance and minimum information requirements
• Risk and impact assessment, approval, escalation and human oversight arrangements
• Integration with enterprise risk, privacy, cybersecurity, information governance, records, procurement and third-party governance
• Governance documentation, reporting, monitoring and assurance requirements

Board and Executive AI Governance

Boards and senior executives need sufficient visibility and reliable information to exercise informed oversight of AI. Sibenco helps organisations define what should be reported, when matters should be escalated and what evidence supports responsible and defensible oversight.

• Board and committee oversight responsibilities and accountability
• AI risk appetite, escalation triggers and decision rights
• Board and executive AI reporting and minimum visibility requirements
• Assurance information and evidence required to support oversight
• Board and executive briefings and facilitated governance discussions

AI Assurance and Ongoing Monitoring

AI governance becomes credible when the organisation can demonstrate that governance arrangements and controls are operating as intended. Sibenco helps establish assurance and monitoring arrangements, identify the evidence senior leaders and boards need, and facilitate periodic review and independent challenge.

• Assurance framework, responsibilities and lines of review
• Control, evidence and recordkeeping requirements
• Governance metrics, reporting and escalation arrangements
• Periodic governance effectiveness reviews and review of assurance information
• Independent governance review and challenge

 

Ongoing AI Governance Support

AI governance needs to evolve as technology, regulation, guidance and organisational use change. Sibenco can provide ongoing support following an initial review or implementation engagement, or as an external governance adviser to an established internal AI governance function.

This ongoing advisory model, which may be structured as AI Governance as a Service, gives boards, accountable executives and governance teams access to specialist governance and regulatory advice, horizon scanning and independent challenge while strengthening internal ownership and capability.

• Periodic governance health checks and priority reviews
• Updates on relevant legal, regulatory, standards and guidance developments
• Review and refresh of AI governance frameworks, policies and reporting
• Advisory support to the accountable executive, AI governance committee or relevant risk/governance forum
• Annual AI governance effectiveness review and recommendations

Ongoing support can be structured to suit the organisation’s governance needs and maturity, including periodic reviews or an agreed advisory retainer.

 

Current frameworks and regulatory context

Sibenco’s AI governance work is informed by current Australian law and regulatory guidance, recognised governance and risk frameworks, and a comparative international perspective. Depending on the organisation and sector, this may include the National AI Centre’s Guidance for AI Adoption, Australian Government AI policy and assurance requirements, ISO/IEC 42001 AI management systems, ISO/IEC 23894 AI risk management, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and applicable privacy, consumer, discrimination, corporate, cybersecurity and sector-specific requirements.

Sibenco also maintains a close watch on major overseas regulatory developments that can affect Australian organisations, multinational groups, technology suppliers and cross-border information flows. This includes particular depth in EU privacy, AI and digital regulation, including the GDPR, the EU AI Act and related digital and data regulation, together with significant US federal and state AI and privacy developments and other leading international approaches. This comparative perspective helps organisations understand the direction of regulation, emerging governance expectations and requirements that may flow through global technology and supply chains.

The policy environment is moving quickly. On 15 July 2026, the Australian Government announced a new Office of AI within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and proposed Australian Standards for AI, with legislation expected in early 2027. In September 2026, leading frontier AI executives, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk, publicly supported stronger independent safety evaluation, common safety standards, government cooperation and a more deliberate approach to frontier-model development. These developments reinforce the need for AI governance that can adapt as technology, regulation and expectations change.

For Australian Privacy Principle entities, new privacy-policy transparency obligations concerning certain automated decision-making commence on 10 December 2026. Governance arrangements should also be capable of addressing emerging agentic AI uses, including authority, human oversight, security, monitoring, escalation and the ability to intervene.

 

Specialist expertise

Sibenco’s AI governance work is led by Dr Susan Bennett, a practising lawyer with more than 30 years’ experience and specialist expertise in corporate governance, AI governance, information governance and privacy. Her work combines Australian legal and regulatory depth with a comparative understanding of major EU, US and global AI, privacy and digital-regulation developments. She also brings sector-specific governance knowledge across government, financial services, legal and professional services, education and the not-for-profit sector. Susan is Founder and Executive Director of InfoGovANZ and co-author of “AI Risks, Failures and Consequences: Corporate Governance for the AI Era” (Australian Journal of Corporate Law, 2025). She develops and delivers AI governance education for directors, senior executives and professionals and regularly publishes and presents on AI governance, risk, accountability and assurance.

About Dr Susan Bennett

 

Our approach: building governance capability within the organisation

Sibenco develops governance frameworks and works with Boards, senior executives and internal specialists to translate those frameworks and regulatory requirements into practical arrangements that fit the organisation.

Our role is to provide expert governance and regulatory guidance, facilitate the right conversations and decisions, help functions work together, and build the organisation's capability to operate and continuously improve its own governance arrangements.

Implementation may include facilitating cross-functional working groups and governance committees, clarifying accountability and decision rights, helping teams identify the information and evidence required for compliance and assurance, supporting the development of risk and impact assessment processes, establishing appropriate reporting and escalation pathways, and reviewing whether governance arrangements are operating as intended.

The objective is governance that is understood and owned across the organisation, supported by the information, records and evidence needed to demonstrate effective oversight, regulatory compliance and continuous improvement.

 

Related AI Governance education and resources

• AI Governance for Directors: Board, Legal and Risk Oversight
• AI Governance for Professionals: Legal, Risk, Accountability and Assurance
• AI Governance Workshop