NEW YORK — February 1, 2026 — New York AI Group™ and AIGR™ — Artificial Intelligence Governance Ratings today announced the beginning of early development of the AI Governance Ratings Index™, a proposed enterprise assessment and ratings framework intended to help organizations evaluate the strength, maturity, and operating effectiveness of their artificial intelligence governance practices.
The initiative is being developed in response to a growing enterprise requirement: as artificial intelligence becomes embedded in business processes, decision support, customer interactions, software systems, and increasingly autonomous workflows, organizations need more structured ways to understand whether governance mechanisms are keeping pace with adoption.
Early development will examine how an evidence-informed ratings methodology could assess governance across areas such as executive oversight, accountability, risk management, responsible AI practices, enterprise controls, cybersecurity governance, operational monitoring, documentation, and regulatory readiness.
From AI policy to operating evidence
Many organizations have begun establishing AI principles, policies, committees, and acceptable-use requirements. The next challenge is determining whether those structures are consistently translated into operating controls, decision rights, review processes, technical safeguards, and evidence that can be evaluated over time.
The AI Governance Ratings Index™ is being explored as a structured mechanism for examining that gap. The development approach will emphasize evidence and repeatability rather than self-attestation alone, with the objective of creating a clearer view of how governance is designed, implemented, monitored, and improved across an enterprise.
Initial areas of research and development
Governance and oversight. Examining board and executive accountability, governance mandates, decision rights, escalation paths, and organizational ownership for AI risk.
Risk management. Evaluating how organizations identify, classify, assess, treat, and monitor risks associated with AI systems and AI-enabled business processes.
Responsible AI practices. Reviewing the processes used to address issues such as human oversight, transparency, reliability, fairness, data use, explainability, and appropriate system limitations where relevant to the use case.
Enterprise controls and assurance. Assessing whether policies are supported by operational controls, review procedures, testing, approvals, documentation, evidence retention, and defined accountability.
Cybersecurity governance. Considering the relationship between AI governance and enterprise security, including access control, model and data security, third-party risk, monitoring, incident response, and emerging agentic-AI risks.
Operational governance. Exploring lifecycle controls from design and procurement through deployment, monitoring, change management, exception handling, and retirement.
Regulatory readiness. Evaluating the organization’s ability to map relevant AI requirements to internal controls and maintain documentation that can support governance, assurance, and regulatory review.
A ratings approach for enterprise decision-makers
The proposed index is intended to support clearer enterprise conversations about AI governance by translating a broad and often fragmented control environment into a structured assessment. Potential users may include boards, executive teams, risk leaders, technology organizations, AI governance functions, internal audit teams, investors, and other institutional stakeholders seeking a more disciplined view of organizational AI governance capability.
Development work will consider how ratings can remain understandable at the executive level while retaining enough methodological depth to be useful to practitioners. The initiative will also examine how scoring, evidence quality, review procedures, rating definitions, and update cycles should be designed to reduce ambiguity and improve consistency.
Measured development and methodology
New York AI Group™ and AIGR™ will approach the initiative as an early-stage research and development program. Methodology, scoring models, rating scales, evidence requirements, and review processes remain subject to testing and refinement.
The AI Governance Ratings Index™ is not being presented as a regulatory approval, legal opinion, certification, credit rating, or guarantee of system safety or performance. Any future rating or assessment would reflect the methodology, evidence, scope, and review conditions applicable at the time of evaluation.
About New York AI Group™
New York AI Group™ is an enterprise AI advisory and technology company focused on artificial intelligence, enterprise transformation, research, governance, technology, infrastructure, and capital. The company works with organizations navigating the strategic and institutional implications of AI adoption and emerging technologies.
New York AI Group™ is operated by New York AI Group LLC.
Website: NewYorkAIGroup.com
Media contact: [email protected]
About AIGR™ — Artificial Intelligence Governance Ratings
AIGR™ — Artificial Intelligence Governance Ratings is focused on the development of research, assessment methodologies, and ratings infrastructure for enterprise AI governance. Its work is intended to support more structured evaluation of governance maturity, risk management, organizational controls, accountability, and responsible AI practices.
Website: aigrglobal.com