AI diligence & assurance readiness
Prepare your AI governance for audit, diligence, and independent review
Are the controls, records, evidence, and decision history in place for someone independent to examine? Sentient answers that question, closes the gaps that would impair review, and organizes the evidence before the request arrives.
Sentient prepares the operating environment for assurance. Sentient does not audit, certify, or manufacture assurance.
01
- Prepare
- Record
- Examine
The assurance boundary
Readiness is preparation. Assurance is independent.
Independent assurance is a conclusion reached by someone outside the company, from evidence the company can produce.
Sentient's work is the preparation: making sure the controls, records, evidence, and decision history exist, can be traced, and hold up when someone independent examines them.
Sentient prepares the operating environment for assurance. Sentient does not audit, certify, or manufacture assurance.
What readiness covers
- AI audit readiness
- Diligence readiness
- Governance and control evidence
- Decision history and traceability
- Gaps closed before review
02
- Procurement
- Investors
- Insurers
- Auditors
Who examines the evidence
When stakeholders ask for proof, the evidence should already exist.
Each reviewer looks for something different. Readiness starts from what the expected reviewer will examine.
01
Enterprise procurement
Customer security questionnaires, AI governance questionnaires, and vendor due diligence asking how models, data, and vendors are controlled, and who approved their use.
02
Customer diligence
Enterprise buyer diligence asking you to substantiate product claims and show how AI outputs are reviewed before customers rely on them.
03
Investor diligence
Questions about AI ownership, material risks, and open governance gaps before a round closes.
04
Insurer scrutiny
Insurer AI questionnaires and underwriting review of where AI influences consequential outcomes and which controls limit the exposure.
05
Auditors and assessors
Inventory, approvals, change records, and evidence that each control operated as described.
06
Buyers and acquirers
Review of what governance exists, who owns it, which records support it, and what remains unresolved.
03
- Inventory
- Authority
- Traceability
- Evidence
What reviewers examine
The records independent review will examine.
Strong evidence is generated through normal work and traceable to an owner, so it can be produced without reconstruction.
01
Governance evidence
Proof that the governance structure operates: owners appointed, reviews held, and decisions recorded.
Structure in practice
02
Control evidence
Records showing each control ran as designed, when it ran, and who performed it.
Operating effectiveness
03
Decision history
Who approved each consequential use, accepted each risk, or granted each exception, with the reasoning and conditions.
Approvals and risk acceptance
04
Traceability
A line from each AI system and version to the reviews, changes, and approvals that touched it.
Audit trail
05
AI system inventory
A complete, current list of the systems in scope, so a reviewer can test coverage instead of discovering gaps.
Scope
06
Human oversight records
Where human review took place, who performed it, and what it changed.
Review in practice
Know what is governed, what is evidenced, and what still needs to be made clear.
04
- Find
- Assign
- Close
Gaps that impair review
The gaps that weaken an independent review.
Readiness work finds these before a reviewer does, then gives each one an owner and a fix.
01
Incomplete inventory
Scope
AI systems or vendors in use that no one has recorded, so the reviewer cannot confirm what is in scope.
- Unlisted systems
- Unlisted vendors
- Unmapped dependencies
02
Missing owners
Accountability
Systems without a named owner or approver, so accountability cannot be demonstrated.
- Owners
- Approvers
- Risk acceptance
03
Unrecorded decisions
Decision history
Approvals and risk acceptances made in meetings or chat, with no record of who decided or why.
- Approvals
- Exceptions
- Reasoning
04
Broken traceability
Change records
Changes to models, prompts, data, or vendors with no link to a review or re-approval.
- Change records
- Version history
- Re-approval
05
Evidence that cannot be produced
Retrieval
Controls that run without leaving a record, or records scattered across tools and people.
- Control records
- Retention
- Retrieval
06
Unsupported claims
Substantiation
Product, sales, or security claims that the records do not back up.
- Product claims
- Substantiation
- Qualification
05
- Audit
- Assess
- Align
Independent assurance context
Independent review of AI systems is gaining formal standards.
On September 9, 2026, California signed SB 813 and AB 1405. AB 1405 creates a state registry of AI auditors with independence and reporting standards. SB 813 creates state designation of independent verification organizations. Neither law requires companies to obtain an AI audit.
Sentient maps the records and controls it implements to the frameworks that apply, including the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, ISO/IEC 42001, and the EU AI Act. For companies pursuing ISO/IEC 42001 certification, that groundwork is ISO 42001 readiness; certification itself comes from an accredited body.
How framework alignment worksIndependent review needs something real to examine.
06
- Assess
- Remediate
- Organize
How readiness work runs
From scattered records to an evidence structure.
Readiness work runs in four steps.
01
Readiness assessment
Test against the reviewer
Test current records and controls against what the expected reviewer will examine, and list the gaps that would impair review.
02
Gap remediation
Build what is missing
Build the missing records, controls, and traceability, through a Governance Activation Sprint where the gaps are structural.
03
Evidence organization
Ready to examine
Organize the evidence so a reviewer can trace each control to its owner, its records, and its history. The reviewer reaches their own conclusion.
04
Ongoing readiness
Ongoing Governance Operations
Keep records current between reviews, so the next request is answered from existing evidence.
07
- Prepare
- Evidence
- Review
Questions, answered
AI audit and assurance readiness, answered.
What is AI assurance readiness?
AI assurance readiness means the controls, records, evidence, and decision history are in place and traceable before someone independent examines them. It is preparation. The assurance conclusion belongs to the independent reviewer.
What is the difference between audit readiness and assurance?
Audit readiness is the company's preparation: a complete inventory, named owners, recorded decisions, and evidence that controls ran. Assurance is the conclusion an independent auditor or assessor reaches from that evidence. Sentient prepares the operating environment and does not audit, certify, or manufacture assurance.
What evidence does an AI reviewer need?
A current AI system inventory, ownership and approval records, decision and risk-acceptance history, human oversight records, change records linked to re-approval, and proof that each control operated as described.
How should companies prepare for AI diligence?
Start from what the expected reviewer will examine, whether enterprise procurement, an investor, an insurer, or an acquirer. Test current records against it, close the gaps, and organize the evidence so each control traces to an owner and its history.
Is ISO/IEC 42001 readiness a form of assurance readiness?
Yes. ISO/IEC 42001 readiness builds the AI management system records and controls that an accredited certification body will assess. The certificate itself comes from that body, not from the company or its advisors.
ISO/IEC 42001 readiness
08
- Discuss
- Design
- Implement
- Operate
Be ready before they ask
Build the operating structure before the next customer, investor, insurer, partner, or buyer demands proof.
Sentient builds the governance structure companies need to show how AI is owned, controlled, reviewed, evidenced, and operated. Talk to Sentient about what your customers, investors, insurers, partners, or buyers will expect to see.