AI Governance 2.0: Regulation, Compliance, and Global Alignment

The regulatory tide has arrived. The EU AI Act, U.S. Executive Order 14110, and ISO 42001 mark the shift from voluntary ethics to mandatory accountability.

Governance 1.0 was about awareness; 2.0 is about enforcement. Organizations must inventory every model, classify risk, document datasets, and prove oversight.

EU AI Act: risk tiers from minimal to unacceptable with penalties up to 6% of revenue.

ISO 42001: management system for AI quality and risk.

NIST AI RMF: standard for trustworthy AI development.

Compliance automation—model registries, explainability dashboards, bias testing—transforms governance from a burden to a business enabler.

Transparent enterprises build faster because regulators, partners, and customers trust them. Governance maturity will soon matter as much as cloud maturity once did.