Why Your Organization Needs an AI Council—NOW

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The ways that generative AI will change organizations in the coming months and years will be monumental. For most, that’s an exciting premise. There’s no way to totally tell what amazing improvements are on the horizon or what competitive advantages it will afford.

But in my work with looking at disruptive technologies and transformations, I’ve learned you can’t do the big, fun, transformative work without also having a really strong focus on discipline, order, prioritization, and alignment.

Yes, governance and oversight is boring, but it’s a critical component of ensuring such large and sweeping changes can be handled effectively.

So what’s the best way to both explore the possibilities generative AI will offer as well as get clear on its role within your company??

Several companies I’ve studied have begun forming AI councils—a cross-functional group that helps the organization work through AI’s various opportunities and also identify the applications, the risks, and the compliance aspects of it.

In this week’s LinkedIn Live session, I outlined why an AI council is critical to your company’s strategy and how you can form your own. Here’s what I suggested:

Why form an AI council?

We’ve all worked at places that love wrapping new projects and processes in red tape, overengineering structures and SOPs in a really undesirable way. And while I’d agree that not every new technology that comes along requires a council to oversee its implementation, generative AI absolutely does for two reasons:

One, it’s transformative. Anyone who’s had even a tiny bit of exposure to generative AI software can see its potential. This technology is going to create so many changes in the way we do work, and if leveraged correctly, it will create a competitive advantage that you need to get ahead of.

We saw the effects of transformative tech during the eCommerce boom. The companies that didn’t have their acts together and saw eCommerce tech as a tactical tooly didn’t develop a competitive edge and take advantage of it. Even if you’re not doing huge amounts of transformative work, you should understand the potential is there.

The other reason you need an AI council is because generative AI is going to impact every facet of your firm. Unlike other forms of digital transformation, which might have affected just your IT or customer-facing tech stack, the applications are limitless—and so are the implications. You can’t just do something in one line of your business and not have it impact other aspects. How will generative AI affect IT? Your team? Your legal compliance? Every avenue must be considered.

Also unlike other tech, we don’t have the luxury of time and control over when we should start using it. Generative AI is widely available to the general public—it’s walking through the back door of your office in your employee’s pockets on their phones. And it’s going to be very difficult to tell people not to use it when it’s so clear how it could benefit their jobs. As such, we need to have an organization-wide perspective on how to use it.

What is the AI council’s purpose?

Your council’s responsibilities are fairly simple. It must identify which part of your organization’s current strategy can continue, which parts can (or will) change with the new applications you develop, and how to prioritize both.

Additional considerations should be answering questions like how will your company allocates limited resources to achieve your AI goals, what training and education is needed, and what kind of governance and oversight will be required.

Then, the council needs to put all of those policies and training in place, and—most importantly—install measurements to see if it’s all working together.

Who should be on the AI council?

This is obviously the most important question. Technology that has the potential to create such wide-reaching change will require input from many different facets of your organization.

Your first instinct may be to form a council that has a representative from each of your organization’s functions, but before putting too many cooks in the kitchen, I’d suggest that you first ask yourself what’s the minimum number of participants you can get away with.

Most of the companies I’ve researched created a very small working group at the top of their council supported by an extended team who could be delegated tasks when it made sense. That way, the small team could have strategic conversations and move fast, while the actual work could be cascaded deep into and throughout the organization. Not only does this model create agility—a critical component given how quickly generative AI is changing every day—but it also fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility for initiatives across the company.

Also keep in mind that the makeup of the council is going to depend on your goals as a company. If your company’s priority is to apply generative AI to internal processes, your council will look very different than one where the generative AI strategy focuses on enhancing the customer experience. So, thinking about your first initial goals and how generative AI will impact your strategy will give you a starting point for who you’ll put on your council.

Here are some representatives to consider:

• IT should obviously be included. They’ll be able to explain how IT can support various initiatives, as well as report on the state of the company’s data and make recommendations on partnerships with outside vendors or support services.
• Someone from your business stack should also be involved. You’ll need someone who understands your existing business strategy and how it will be impacted or need to change.
• You’ll also need a perspective on customers. This could come from customer experience or marketing, and their role should be to devise how to build customer engagement and make decisions on how much transparency you need to share about? your AI efforts.
• Creatives, designers, and/or builders could be involved as well, because they’ll be the ones actually building the applications, and they’ll know if what you’re trying to achieve is possible.
• Next is HR—your people perspectives. You’ll need to address questions related to the implications on your workforce and talent development. Does your team have the skills to achieve what you’re setting out to do, and what upskilling, acquisitions, and potential terminations have to happen in order to achieve your goals?
• Another council seat could go to someone from risk management. Their role will be assessing the emerging risks and how to mitigate them. How big of an impact could these new processes have on your company’s perceived value?
• Finally, you should have access to someone who can speak on legal and compliance matters. This one is tricky, because legal is often seen as the “no” people—no, you can’t do this, no that isn’t okay. It’s important to get people from those parts of the organization who are thinking about compliance—both in the present and in the future as the landscape changes—but also thinking pragmatically about how to mitigate problems without nixing the whole initiative.

What about the board?

Most of the positions I mentioned above are operational and sitting inside of your company. But there’s also a need for your board to be involved because they have the fiduciary responsibility to make sure the organization is moving in the right direction. They’re looking out for both stakeholders and shareholders. And it’s clear that generative AI is already at the level where the board needs to understand and oversee its implementation across the organization.

Some company boards? have been talking about the impact of generative AI since late 2022. Others have recently added it to their agendas because they have a sense they need to get their arms around it.

As generative AI becomes a greater strategic focus for the organization, be ready to set up an advisory board or sub-committee to advise the board of directors. The AI advisory would report on findings and progress, but also think about long-term implications—especially when it comes to the ethical responsibilities of using AI within the organization. Composition could include a representative from the board of directors, some members of the AI council and potentially pulling in outside experts in an advisory capacity.??

Crucial council must-haves

Once you’ve decided who will sit on the AI council at both the operational and board advisory levels, it’s time to get to work. And as you do, there are a few crucial things you must accomplish:

1 - Start with your strategy. Ensure your council’s goals align with your existing corporate strategy and the way your organization works. This isn’t an outside-in skunkworks-type project that explores new ideas and territories without the context of the existing strategy.

One company I studied put superior customer experience squarely at the center of their corporate strategy, so it made sense that customer experience was at the very top of their list of things to explore and advance using generative AI. Another company was very internal and process-focused, so they started there with their AI objectives.

2 - Get the highest level of executive buy-in that you can. Generative AI is going to be so transformative—so aligning with the highest level executive given your focus is important so you can make sure the purpose and focus of the group is appropriate.

3 - Drive toward tangible business outcomes. Don’t just go out and perform pie in the sky experiments. Get really clear about how you’ll do the things you set out to do—and how you’ll measure if they’re successful or not.

4 - Expect change. Just as a strategy focus will likely shift over time, so will your council. Your council and its members are NOT set-and-forget. It may move into different parts of the organization that it reports to, or even become its own function so you’ll need to be prepared to pivot. Just as much as generative AI is changing as a technology, the strategy and the way you implement it is going to evolve over time as well.

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Next week, I’ll be talking about how we can put together a comprehensive generative AI strategy in 90 days, even in the midst of a fast-changing landscape. When you’re leading the charge into the AI wilderness, it’s really about creating a longer term strategy of where you’re heading. Tune in Tuesday, September 19 at 9 am Pacific!

Your Turn

How are you organizing for AI? What is working? What isn’t?