Glossary

ISO 42001

ISO 42001, formally known as ISO/IEC 42001:2023, is the world’s first international standard for Artificial Intelligence Management Systems (AIMS). Published in December 2023, it lays out practical requirements for organizations that develop, deploy, or utilize AI systems—helping them establish, maintain, and continuously improve a structured governance framework tailored to AI. Its purpose? To make sure AI works responsibly, ethically, and efficiently, in ways that serve both business goals and societal expectations.

How ISO 42001 works

ISO 42001 integrates governance into how AI is built and used throughout an organization. It is based on the familiar Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle used in other ISO standards:

Plan: Set clear objectives, identify AI-specific risks such as bias or lack of transparency, and create policies to address them.
Do: Put those policies into practice by establishing oversight structures, performing risk assessments, and implementing safeguards for fairness, safety, and ethics.
Check: Monitor AI performance, measure compliance with policies, and test for issues such as bias, privacy gaps, or safety concerns.
Act: Use the insights from monitoring to improve policies, update risk management protocols, and align with new regulations or industry best practices.

The standard goes beyond high-level principles. It spells out what governance structures should look like, how accountability should be assigned, what kinds of risk management processes are needed, how monitoring should be conducted, and how to involve stakeholders in AI oversight.

ISO 42001 is also designed to work alongside other standards. For example, organizations that already follow ISO 27001 for information security or ISO 23894 for AI risk management can integrate ISO 42001 into those frameworks. This avoids duplication and builds on existing compliance efforts.

Why ISO 42001 matters for AI-powered customer service

This standard is especially important for conversational AI systems that interact directly with customers and where context awareness shapes the entire experience. As businesses deploy AI agents to handle customer inquiries or transactions, having ISO 42001 in place signals that the experience is guided by oversight and fairness.

Trust and credibility: Independent certification reassures customers that AI agents operate ethically and in line with legal norms.
Balanced innovation and governance: ISO 42001 helps organizations embrace AI’s benefits—like personalization and responsiveness—while keeping the governance tight enough to prevent bias, opacity, or misuse.
Regulatory readiness: With AI regulations like the EU AI Act on the horizon, ISO 42001 gives companies a proactive structure in place, and many organizations are already leveraging it as a foundation for compliance.

The value goes beyond avoiding compliance issues. Because ISO 42001 promotes continuous improvement, AI-powered customer service systems do not just maintain their performance. Over time, they can become more accurate, fair, secure, and responsive, guided by a deliberate process rather than ad-hoc fixes.

When customers interact with an AI agent that is governed under ISO 42001, the difference is tangible. High governance standards often translate into better customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), since customers feel confident in the reliability and fairness of the AI’s responses. They are more likely to receive responses that are not only fast and relevant but also consistent with ethical standards. That combination can build loyalty in a way that speed or personalization alone cannot achieve.