Who owns your AI?

37% of leaders say it's unclear who owns AI decisions in their company. That's from a Conference Board survey of 775 leaders, and these are companies with whole teams for this. A 10-person business with 4 AI tools and a busy owner is probably in the same spot.

The fix costs nothing. Give every AI tool 1 owner and 1 checker, and write it down on 1 page.

What the survey found

The same report split companies by how far along they are. Where AI is built into daily work, 85% say they have clear ownership or formal rules for it. Among companies still exploring AI, it's 26%.

I read that as: the businesses getting real use out of AI decided early who's in charge of it.

1 owner, 1 checker

The owner decides what the tool is used for, keeps its instructions up to date and answers when it gets something wrong.

The checker looks at what the tool produces before it reaches a customer, a vendor or your books. For anything customer facing, make them two different people. If it's just you, be the checker on a set day each week.

What it looks like in a real company

Toshiba's HR chief gave his HR staff 30 days to each build a small AI helper for one question they answer over and over: payroll, time off, attendance. Then each person showed theirs to the group. Every helper had a name, a job and a person behind it. (Toshiba is a big company and hasn't shared results yet, but the setup is easy to copy.)

Put it on your HQ

Make a short list with 4 columns: the tool, what it does, who owns it, who checks it. For example: meeting notes, summaries for the team, office manager, you on Fridays.

My HQ works the same way. Each AI helper has one job, reports in every morning, and nothing goes out until I approve it.

Start this week

Pick the AI tool you use most and fill in 1 line. Then do the next one.

If you want the 1-page template, grab my free Owner's HQ Starter Kit. And if you'd like help setting this up in your business, grab a time with me.

Source: The Conference Board, "Report: AI Is Changing Leadership Faster Than Organizations Are Adapting", 775 leaders. HR Dive, "Toshiba CHRO: entry-level workers need to use AI more, not less", Oct 27, 2026.