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Doing AI Governance

Doing AI Governance | The design gap in AI governance

Published 4 months ago • 2 min read

This newsletter provides practical guidance, tools and resources for the real work of governing safe, secure and lawful AI.

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Newsletter #50 - December 2025

Feature Article

The design gap in AI governance

AI governance already has the scaffolding of laws, frameworks, committees, standards and rules. What's missing is the design discipline and practice to build and sustain real safety and security.

By James Kavanagh

Chemical plants rarely explode. Planes rarely fall from the sky. That’s not because those industries have more regulations than everyone else, though they certainly are regulated. It's because they've learned, through tragedy, that design is the key driver of safety. Not rules. Not audits. Not compliance departments. Most certainly not paperwork.

Their safety and security is by design. Design of systems, of processes, of the mechanisms and culture that catch problems before they become disasters. When rare accidents do happen, the subsequent investigation almost always finds inadequate design as the primary cause of failure.

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Doing AI Governance

by James Kavanagh and AI Career Pro

Join over 4,500 subscribers and learn about the real work of AI governance. Moving beyond theory, we focus on the practical application of AI governance in real-world organisations with case studies, tools, templates and guidance. Led by James Kavanagh - the AI governance practitioner who led governance at both AWS and Microsoft.

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