AI Governance for Boards and CXOs
Turn AI uncertainty into accountable board‑level decisions. Build practical AI governance capabilities, challenge management with confidence, and leave Cambridge with a clear 90‑day oversight plan designed with faculty from 5 University of Cambridge departments.
Upcoming programmes
Format:
Dates:
Duration:
Fees:
Face-to-face
15-17 Jul 2026
3 days
£5,000 + VAT
Upcoming programmes
Format:
Face-to-face
Dates:
15-17 Jul 2026
Duration:
3 days
Fees:
£5,000 + VAT
Overview
AI governance is one of the most critical challenges facing corporate boards today. While 43% of organisations view AI risk as a major strategic hurdle, research reveals a deeper crisis: 66% of board members report limited to no experience with the technology. Future‑proofing your organisation requires moving beyond reactive compliance to a proactive model of resilience.
Leadership alignment and resilient operating models are now essential to driving business impact and institutional value. Yet AI presents a unique challenge, marked by rapidly moving targets and genuine ‘unknown unknowns’. Standard governance assumes you can define what you are governing; with AI, you often cannot.
Drawing on expertise across 5 University of Cambridge departments, this programme equips senior leaders to govern under conditions of radical uncertainty. Through immersive simulations, including the OpenAI board crisis and analysis of failures like the Boeing 737 MAX, you will develop the power of informed challenge and the frameworks required for effective oversight, without needing technical depth.
This is not compliance training. It is governance capability building, providing a personal AI Governance Audit and a board‑ready 90‑day action plan to secure your organisation’s future.
Benefits and career impact
This programme will help you translate AI uncertainty into confident board‑level decisions, strengthening your governance impact, professional credibility, and long‑term career trajectory in senior leadership.
- Greater confidence in governing AI at board level. Build the capability for informed challenge without needing technical expertise.
- Sharper judgement under uncertainty. Move beyond compliance‑driven or reactive decisions to proactive strategic oversight.
- First‑hand experience of governance failure and redesign through 2 high‑stakes immersive simulations.
- Deeper insight into AI governance failure points, using real‑world board‑level cases from leading technology, infrastructure, and financial institutions.
- A board‑ready toolkit, including structured question sets and governance language for high‑impact AI oversight discussions.
- Enhanced professional credibility in strategic AI conversations with senior stakeholders, regulators, and investors.
- A powerful peer network of senior leaders: board members and CXOs from multiple sectors facing similar AI governance challenges.
- Stronger board‑level oversight. Enhance the collective capability to manage AI‑related risk, opportunity and ethical exposure.
- A structured AI governance audit. Identify specific institutional gaps and priorities through a rigorous, faculty‑led assessment.
- Improved institutional resilience. Build readiness for technological and regulatory shifts, including alignment with EU AI Act obligations.
- Clearer governance architecture. Establish a unified framework for AI development, procurement, and deployment that bridges technical, legal, and risk silos.
- Reduced strategic exposure. Minimise the risk of reputational, accountability, and regulatory failures through better‑informed decision‑making.
- Higher‑velocity strategic decision‑making. Move from static forecasts to dynamic scenario thinking for more robust AI investment decisions.
- A board‑ready 90‑day action plan. Leave with a pragmatic roadmap aligned to your institutional priorities, with built‑in accountability.
Most AI governance programmes teach you frameworks. We teach you what to do when frameworks are not enough, how to govern something you cannot fully define, with the confidence to act.
Programme content
Module 1: The governance problem you cannot define
- Why AI is categorically different from previous governance challenges.
- Risk vs uncertainty: the limits of standard frameworks.
- Scenario planning methodology for AI governance.
- Fireside conversation with AI policy leader.
Module 2: Strategic simulation of AI futures
- Immersive roleplay: governing AI development as decision‑makers.
- Competitive dynamics, safety‑speed trade‑offs, cooperation dilemmas.
- Connecting simulation dynamics to your own governance context.
Module 3: Corporate governance meets AI
- Corporate governance structures for AI oversight.
- Committee design, information rights, escalation protocols.
- AI ethics and accountability in practice.
Module 4: The OpenAI governance simulation
- Board crisis simulation based on Harvard Business School case.
- Decision‑making under pressure with incomplete information.
- Governance redesign: building structures that prevent failure.
- Personal AI Governance Audit launch.
Module 5: Accountability, regulation and comparative governance
- Accountability architecture: board, management and vendor responsibility.
- Three‑jurisdiction regulatory landscape (EU AI Act, UK, US).
- Boeing 737 MAX: automated systems oversight and information flow.
- Comparative governance analysis across 6 real‑world cases.
- ‘Design the ideal AI governance structure’ exercise.
Module 6: Audit completion and programme synthesis
- Personal AI Governance Audit completion.
- Board‑ready question set and 90‑day action plan.
- Peer review and challenge.
- Accountability pairing with a cohort member.
- Programme synthesis and closing.
How you learn: Face-to-face
Immerse yourself in an inspirational learning environment in the historic and beautiful city of Cambridge. In an intense classroom-based experience, you will engage with faculty and peers in person. Join ‘Cambridge Union’-style debates, hear from guest speakers and faculty, and enjoy group exercises, role-play and informal conversations both in and outside class.
Who attends
- Board members, chairs, and non‑executive directors of listed and private companies, non‑profits and public bodies.
- C‑suite executives with governance responsibility, for example CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CROs, CDOs and CTOs.
- Senior public‑sector leaders accountable for AI‑enabled services and institutional risk.
- Chief Risk Officers, Chief Data Officers, and Heads of AI or Digital designing AI governance architecture.
- Trustees and governors of organisations deploying or procuring AI systems.
- Experienced senior leaders preparing for board roles who need credible expertise in AI governance.
Faculty and speakers
Learn from our world-class faculty who bring fresh insights from their leading-edge research into all of our Executive Education programmes. The Academic Programme Director (APD) for this programme is Professor Matthew Grimes.
Director of the MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation Programme
Co-Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre
Why Cambridge Judge Business School?
Related programmes
AI Governance for Boards and CXOs belongs to our Managing Organisations topic executive education programmes. Here is a selection of related programmes from across our suites.
The Cambridge Leading Change Programme
This programme is for leaders responsible for change. It gives them practical tools to strengthen communication and stakeholder engagement so they can drive complex change with skills they can use straightaway.
Strategic Decision-Making for Leaders
Learn to think strategically, lead through uncertainty and improve the quality of your decision-making at every level.
Generative Artificial Intelligence: From Hype to Business Impact
This programme will help you gain a deep understanding of AI and how to effectively integrate it into your organisation, whilst navigating legalities and bias.
Speak to a programme advisor
If you have any questions or would like to discuss how this programme could benefit you or your organisation, please get in touch with the programme advisor.
