SAAF Ethical Go/No-Go Gate

Time to Complete: 20–30 minutes per use case

Purpose: Determine whether an AI capability is ethically sound and safe to scale. Validates alignment with responsible AI principles, legal requirements, and governance expectations.

Why Use This?

Even if an AI pilot delivered business value, it should not scale if it introduces unacceptable bias, privacy risk, lack of oversight, or ethical ambiguity. This Go/No-Go Gate brings stakeholders together to assess those risks and establish clear accountability.

Section 1: Use Case Snapshot

Use Case Title ____________________________________________

AI Functionality ☐ AI Chat ☐ AI Agent ☐ Search ☐ Summarization ☐ Other: ______

Pilot Duration | From ________________ to ________________

Governance Reviewer(s) ____________________________________________

Decision Date ________________

Section 2: Ethics Readiness Checklist

For each category, indicate the status and add notes where needed.

Category	Status	Notes / Evidence
Bias Audit Completed	☐ Yes ☐ Partial ☐ No	(Include checklist link or summary)
Transparency Achieved	☐ Yes ☐ Partial ☐ No	Can users tell this is AI-generated?
Human Oversight In Place	☐ Yes ☐ Partial ☐ No	Clear review points and human accountability?
Sensitive Data Handled Safely	☐ Yes ☐ Partial ☐ No	PII or regulated data reviewed and protected?
Misuse Risk Evaluated	☐ Yes ☐ Partial ☐ No	Escalation paths or misuse scenarios documented?
User Trust Impacts Reviewed	☐ Yes ☐ Partial ☐ No	End user feedback and confidence measured?
Ethical Review Team Engaged	☐ Yes ☐ Partial ☐ No	Governance board or ethics lead consulted?

Section 3: Risk Summary

Remaining Risk Areas (if any):

Mitigation Plan or Safeguards:

Is this AI capability safe for scaled deployment?

☐ Yes, with no changes

☐ Yes, with minor improvements

☐ Not yet—improvements required

☐ No—significant ethical risk

Section 4: Stakeholder Sign-Off

Name	Role	Approval (✔/✘)	Comments
	Executive Sponsor
	Ethics / Governance Lead
	Legal / Compliance
	Product Owner

Final Go/No-Go Decision

Recommended Action:

☐ GO – Proceed to scale

☐ GO with conditions – Minor improvements required

☐ NO GO – Redesign or pause deployment

Decision Notes:

Storage & Documentation

• Attach to use case record in Jira / Confluence

• Store under AI Governance Documentation Hub

• Link to prior:

  • AI Adoption Charter

  • Risk Pre-Assessment

  • Bias Audit Checklist

  • Business Value Scorecard