Governance Briefing — April 1, 2025
US federal agencies face the first annual AI governance checkpoint under OMB M-24-10, requiring chief AI officer dashboards, risk reviews, and inventory publication.
Executive briefing: By 1 April 2025, Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-24-10 requires US federal agencies to publish updated AI use-case inventories, certify risk reviews for safety-impacting systems, and brief agency leadership on mitigation plans. Chief AI officers must coordinate governance boards, senior accountable officials, and privacy officers to prove compliance.
Key governance signals
- Inventory transparency. Agencies must release public AI inventories and submit non-public annexes to OMB, evidencing board-level oversight of high-risk systems.
- Safety review cadence. Safety-impacting AI must undergo risk assessments, testing, and independent review before deployment or continued operation.
- Executive accountability. Agency heads must certify compliance, relying on governance boards to evidence mitigations and incident response plans.
Action checklist
- Stand up cross-functional AI governance boards that include CIO, CISO, privacy, civil rights, and mission owners to review inventories before the deadline.
- Document assurance packages covering testing, bias mitigation, and red-team results for every safety-impacting AI system.
- Prepare leadership briefings summarising outstanding risks, waivers, and remediation timelines for high-impact use cases.
Sources
- OMB Memorandum M-24-10: Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use of AI
- OMB briefing on AI governance implementation timelines
Zeph Tech supports federal CIO and CAIO offices with inventory automation, risk review templates, and executive readouts ahead of the April 2025 checkpoint.