Barkdale & Co. · Starr Kennelly, Discipline Architect

ARCHAI

AI Governance Framework

Your AI systems are making consequential decisions right now — without formal governance, without traceable authority, without enforceable ethical constraints. Regulators are asking for evidence. ARCHAI™ is the answer.

EU AI Act NIST AI RMF ISO/IEC 42001 EO 14110 GDPR Art. 22

The EU AI Act is in force. High-risk AI systems without formal governance documentation face fines up to €30 million or 6% of global annual turnover. Most organizations are not compliant.

The Problem

Your AI systems are operating
without formal governance

Every organization deploying AI faces the same six failures. Any one of them is a regulatory liability. All six together is an existential risk.

01 · TRACEABILITY

AI Decisions Are Not Traceable

When your AI system makes a consequential decision, can you produce the complete audit trail — model version, training data, parameters, human authorization? Regulators are asking. Most companies cannot answer.

02 · AUTHORITY

AI Authority Is Undefined

Who in your organization has the formal authority to deploy an AI system? Change its parameters? Expand its scope? Shut it down? If the answer is informal, you have no governance.

03 · ETHICS

Ethics Are Aspirational

Your AI ethics principles exist as a document. They do not constrain operational decisions. A principle that says "we will be fair" has no enforcement mechanism. That is not governance.

04 · RESILIENCE

AI Failures Are Not Managed

When an AI system produces a biased output or fails unexpectedly, what is your formal response? Most organizations improvise. That improvisation is what regulators classify as a governance failure.

05 · KNOWLEDGE

AI Knowledge Is Unvalidated

Most AI deployment decisions rest on vendor claims and internal assumptions. There is no formal system for distinguishing what is known about your AI system's behavior from what is assumed.

06 · COMPLIANCE

Compliance Is Retroactive

Most AI governance is documentation produced after the fact for an auditor. That is theater. ARCHAI™ builds governance into operations so compliance is a byproduct of running the system.

Regulatory Coverage

Built to satisfy every
major AI regulation

ARCHAI™ is mapped to all current and emerging AI regulatory frameworks. Implementation produces compliance as a byproduct — not a separate exercise.

EU AI Act

EU Artificial Intelligence Act (2024)

Risk classification, conformity assessment, technical documentation, human oversight, incident reporting. ARCHAI™ addresses all high-risk AI system requirements under the Act.

NIST RMF

NIST AI Risk Management Framework

The four functions — Govern, Map, Measure, Manage — are operationalized across all 14 ARCHAI™ domains. ARCHAI™ is the implementation engine for NIST RMF compliance.

ISO 42001

ISO/IEC 42001 AI Management System

The enterprise AI governance certification standard. ARCHAI™ implementation satisfies ISO/IEC 42001 operational requirements. ARCHAI™ is the engine — ISO 42001 is the certification.

EO 14110

US Executive Order 14110

Federal AI governance requirements for safety testing, transparency, and risk management. ARCHAI™ satisfies federal contractor AI governance documentation requirements.

GDPR

GDPR Article 22 — Automated Decision-Making

Rights to explanation and human review for automated decisions. ARCHAI™ Causality and Phenomenology domains produce the explainability record Article 22 requires.

UK AISF

UK AI Safety Institute Framework

Evaluation, testing, and red-teaming requirements for advanced AI systems. ARCHAI™ Optimization and Resilience domains operationalize UK AISF requirements.

The Framework

14 governance domains.
One complete system.

ARCHAI™ applies the complete Archonomy discipline architecture to AI governance. Every domain addresses a dimension of AI governance that existing frameworks leave undefined.

01
ΩAI System Registry
02
Decision Mechanisms
03
Decision Traceability
04
Workflow Governance
05
Performance Governance
06
Failure Management
07
Deployment Governance
08
AI Lifecycle
09
Knowledge Validation
10
Foundational Principles
11
AI Observability
12
Goal Governance
13
Authority & Accountability
14
Ethical Constraints
WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT

Not a checklist. A system.

Every other AI governance framework produces documentation. ARCHAI™ produces operational governance — formal constraints that are enforced, decisions that are blocked, records that are immutable. Compliance is a byproduct of running the system.

THE AUDIT TRAIL

Every decision. Permanently traceable.

Every AI decision produces an immutable audit record. Every governance action is authorized and logged. Every ethical assessment is permanently stored. When a regulator asks, you produce the record in minutes — not weeks.

THE ENFORCEMENT

Inadmissible outputs are blocked.

Ethical constraints in ARCHAI™ are not aspirational. They are operational. An AI output that violates a defined ethical constraint is blocked before downstream action. The block is logged. It cannot be overridden without governance authorization.

Risk Classification

Every AI system classified.
Every risk governed.

ARCHAI™ classifies every AI system by risk level before deployment. Risk level determines governance requirements. No system operates without classification.

CRITICAL
Unacceptable Risk
Social scoring systems · Real-time biometric surveillance · Subliminal manipulation · Exploitation of vulnerable populations
PROHIBITED
No deployment possible
LEVEL 4
High Risk
Credit scoring · Hiring decisions · Medical diagnosis · Criminal justice · Critical infrastructure
FULL ARCHAI™
Human review required
LEVEL 3
Significant Risk
Customer segmentation · Content moderation · Fraud detection · Performance evaluation
FULL ARCHAI™
Triggered human review
LEVEL 2
Moderate Risk
Process optimization · Demand forecasting · Document classification · Internal analytics
CORE ARCHAI™
Annual review
LEVEL 1
Low Risk
Spell checking · Image processing · Internal search · Basic automation
REGISTRATION
Minimal governance
Implementation

12 weeks to complete
AI governance.

ARCHAI™ is implemented through a structured advisory engagement. At the end of 12 weeks your organization has a running governance system — not a report.

PHASE 01
Weeks 1–2

AI System Inventory

  • Complete inventory of all AI systems in operation
  • Risk classification for each system
  • Identification of immediate governance gaps
  • Formal AI System Registry established
PHASE 02
Weeks 3–5

Governance Foundation

  • AI Authority Matrix defined
  • Foundational AI principles canonicalized
  • Ethical constraints operationalized
  • Policy registry established
PHASE 03
Weeks 6–10

Operational Governance

  • Decision mechanism specs per AI system
  • Causal traceability implemented
  • Failure management protocols defined
  • Human oversight workflows established
PHASE 04
Weeks 11–12

Compliance Package

  • Full regulatory mapping produced
  • Audit-ready documentation package
  • Incident response runbook
  • Board-level governance report
Investment

Three ways to engage
with ARCHAI™

AI Governance Diagnostic
$15,000
Two-week assessment · Standalone deliverable
  • Complete inventory of all AI systems
  • Risk classification per system
  • 14-domain governance gap analysis
  • Regulatory exposure assessment
  • Formal Gap Report with prioritized roadmap
  • Credited toward full implementation
Schedule Diagnostic
Governance Retainer
$5K/mo
Ongoing · Post-implementation
  • Continuous governance maintenance
  • New AI system onboarding and classification
  • Regulatory update monitoring and adaptation
  • Incident governance support
  • Quarterly board-level governance report
  • Annual full governance audit
Discuss Retainer
Get Started

Your AI systems need governance.
Regulators are not waiting.

The first step is a 30-minute conversation. We will tell you exactly which of your AI systems are at risk, what regulators would find if they looked today, and what ARCHAI™ implementation would look like for your organization. No obligation beyond that conversation.

Request Your Assessment — hello@archai.io