Co-Creating Operational AI Governance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23726/cij.2026.1856Keywords:
Artificial intelligence, governance, Co-Creation, Design science, Experimental InnovationAbstract
Formal principles, assigned roles, and controls are necessary components of Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance, but organisations may still struggle to translate them into decision rights and escalation arrangements. This article presents a co-creation protocol designed to support cross-functional actors in converting regulatory and organisational requirements into explicit decision rights, escalation pathways, and revisable artefacts. Design requirements were informed by a prior survey of European AI practitioners; the protocol was developed from professional consulting experience across successive versions used in three engagements. Its current version was completed once, with two documented adaptations. Using process evidence, the study formulates two provisional propositions and identifies further untested design questions. The paper reports observed enactability in one completed, adapted application rather than validated effectiveness, and situates the protocol relative to the EU AI Act and ISO/IEC 42001 as a translation mechanism, not a compliance substitute.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Giorgio Zampirolo, Daria Rudnik, Felicia Burtscher

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