As artificial intelligence begins to permeate all corners of digital life, the urgency to professionalize the governance of AI models in any number of functions in a given organization plays out in headlines daily. 

To meet the rapidly emerging litany of AI governance needs, the IAPP is unveiling its new AI Governance Professional certification training program, now available for purchase in its online store.

"We need tens of thousands of professionals globally to do the critical work of AI governance as these innovations are adopted and integrated into our lives," IAPP President and CEO Trevor Hughes, CIPP, said. "Defining a common body of knowledge, building training and creating a shared language for AI governance are massively important steps towards safety and trust in AI."

At the forefront of the IAPP's push into AI governance is its training team, which developed the new AIGP certification training course in 17 weeks. For reference, other certification programs offered by the IAPP typically take a year to develop, according to Training Director Marla Berry, CIPT. The new training course incorporates the IAPP AIGP Body of Knowledge and focuses on key topics such as the foundations of AI, current laws and standards, and the AI development lifecycle.

"It was a true all-hands-on-deck moment, and, even with that, we needed to employ some innovations to deliver this training in a timely manner in response to the growing adoption and rapid evolution of AI," Berry said. "While this is a different disciplinary area (than privacy), there is some familiarity with the associated domains. We were also fortunate to work with a group of fabulous subject matter experts representing a variety of disciplines, sectors, and jurisdictions."

Due to the training team's relatively short development time frame, Berry said one innovative method the team devised was inviting recruited AI governance SMEs to visit IAPP headquarters and record video tutorials on various aspects of the training program. IAPP AI Governance Center Advisory Board member Brenda Leong, CIPP/US, then reviewed them as executive editor. Berry said IAPP members interested in taking the training course will find similar themes from their experience with other privacy program management certification courses offered by the IAPP, which will serve as a solid foundation for their professional development with AI.

"These segments provide rich content to our self-paced online training and helped to rapidly provide content for our instructor-led training," Berry said. "With the growing adoption of AI, there is an urgent need to professionalize AI governance. This training provides knowledge, skills and competencies needed to mitigate risk and support growth of the AI governance profession." 

Because AI technology is evolving so quickly, Berry said, IAPP members can expect the AIGP training to be updated more frequently compared to the annual updates other offered certification program trainings receive. The IAPP is not releasing the AIGP training in a hard copy book at this time due to the rapid changes in the global AI landscape.

"We're well aware that this landscape is incredibly dynamic right now, so we are going to continue working closely with groups of subject matter experts to ensure that we're keeping the content up to date in the program," Berry said. "There's a lot we're going to need to stay on top of, and the team is really excited to do that. I couldn't be more proud of the work they did on this project."