What ISO 42001 Asks You to Write Down

ISO/IEC 42001, published in December 2023, is the international standard for managing AI responsibly. The name sounds intimidating. What it actually asks for is refreshingly old-fashioned: write things down.

In plain English, the standard asks you to document six things. Your AI objectives — what you're trying to achieve. Your risks — what could go wrong and how likely it is. Your roles — who's responsible for what. Your data — where it comes from and how it's handled. Your monitoring — how you watch the system over time. And your improvements — what you changed when you learned something.

Notice what it doesn't ask for: perfection, specific tools, or a particular company size. It's a management system standard, which means it's about how you run things, not about passing a one-time test. A small team with honest documentation fits the spirit better than a large team with a binder nobody reads.

You don't need certification to benefit from it. Use its list as a checklist for your own documentation. If you can show an auditor those six things, written clearly and kept current, you're speaking the international language of AI governance.

Frameworks don't have to be scary. This one is just organized common sense.

I explain frameworks; I don't give legal counsel.