Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken center stage in key conversations regarding business and society.  AI is evolving and moving from the novelty phase of “innovation” to core infrastructure.  It’s now embedded in customer support, hiring, underwriting, security operations, healthcare workflows, logistics, fraud detection, and other areas of business operations.  As AI systems scale, so do the risks, including bias, security weaknesses, data misuse, unclear accountability, as well as inconsistent governance across teams and vendors.

ISO/IEC 42001:2023 (often referred to simply as ISO 42001) addresses that reality by providing a management system framework for responsible AI governance.  This ensures that organizations can design, develop, deploy, and improve AI in a consistent, auditable way.

Why ISO 42001 Certification is Needed

AI adoption is no longer confined to pilot projects. Many organizations now deploy multiple AI models across different business units.  They often rely on third-party models and tooling.  Additionally, they use sensitive data, and operate under evolving customer and regulatory expectations.

At the same time, the governance issues related to the use of AI are well-known.  They include accountability gaps (“nobody owns outcomes”), missing or inconsistent risk assessments, unclear controls over AI lifecycle changes, as well as weak documentation that makes investigations and audits difficult.

ISO 42001 exists to help organizations close those gaps with a structured AI management system (AIMS).  It’s the “how” that turns governance from policy statements into operational controls.

What ISO 42001 Certification Accomplishes – the Fundamentals

ISO 42001 is designed to help your organization establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve an AI management system.  In practical terms, certification signals that you have governance in place to manage AI risks and its impact across the AI lifecycle.

Independent Confirmation of an AI Governance System – When you pursue certification, you’re asking an external party to confirm that your AI management system meets the ISO 42001 standard’s requirements.  ISO explains that certification can provide independent confirmation when an organization chooses to seek it.

Risk-Based Governance for AI Systems – ISO 42001 is built around a management system approach that supports identifying, assessing, and treating AI-related risks and outcomes, rather than relying on ad hoc reviews.  Indeed, certification-focused guidance commonly emphasizes risk assessment and risk treatment within AIMS.

Clear accountability and lifecycle controls – A core goal is operational clarity.  It’s important to clearly establish who is responsible, what is controlled, how changes are managed, and how the system is verified and improved over time.

Alignment with Other Governance and Assurance Expectations – ISO 42001 is intended to fit alongside other organizational controls (i.e., security, privacy, quality, and the like), making it easier to integrate AI governance into the broader way you run the business.

AI Risk Is Measurable and Growing

One practical reason ISO 42001 matters is that AI is expanding quickly, creating more operational exposure for organizations.

For example, Deloitte has discussed ISO 42001 in the context of market readiness for AI systems, and highlighted adoption/certification activity in the ISO ecosystem.

Companies That Have Announced Their ISO 42001 Certification

ISO 42001 is still relatively new, so “certified companies” are fewer than to older ISO standards.  However, prominent organizations have begun publicly announcing certification.  Significant organizations in a variety of industries have already sought and achieved ISO 42001 Certification. 

For instance, Cognizant Technology Solutions has announced that it is the first IT services provider to achieve ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Certification for Artificial Intelligence Management Systems.

UiPath shared it has achieved ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Certification (customer trust for responsible AI automation), becoming one of the first enterprise automation vendors to achieve this certification.

Businesses are also transforming themselves and using ISO 42001 Certification as a validation mechanism.  Pega (formerly known as Pegasystems) is now positioning itself in the following way:  “Pega is THE enterprise platform for AI-decisioning and workflow automation.”  Pega announced that it achieved ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Certification for Pega Cloud and GenAI solutions.  Pega stated that its objective in seeking this certification is to provide clients the most comprehensive AI governance and trust standards.

Similarly, Eleos Health, the leader in AI for post-acute care, has announced thatv it earned ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Certification.  

And innovative companies like Scrut, CrowdStrike, and JAGGAER are all part of the list of companies that have already achieved ISO 42001 Certification.  They all treat earning ISO 42001 Certification as a differentiator for their business.

We should note that in many cases, ISO 42001 Certification is scoped to specific services, sites, or AI systems, so the “what exactly is covered” matters.

Fundamentally, ISO 42001 Certification helps organizations reduce the likelihood of AI-related harm by turning governance into repeatable controls, thus protecting customers and users, improving operational resilience, and supporting trust in AI adoption across markets.

Reach out to our IBEC experts to guide you on the path of earning ISO 42001 Certification.