white and orange welcome aboard buoy

IOLIS A R C: AI Governance & Data Protection


What We Help With

We provide advice and practical support on the governance of AI tools and systems, including internal use of generative AI, third-party platforms, and more structured deployments involving retrieval, workflow automation, or agentic tools.

Our work includes support with acceptable use policies, AI risk and impact assessments, internal governance frameworks, registers of AI systems, deployment sign-off, oversight arrangements, incident response, and review processes.

We also continue to provide data protection support, including DPO services, DPIAs, privacy screening, policy review, and advice where personal data is used in or alongside AI-enabled systems.

The emphasis is always the same: clear, proportionate governance that fits the organisation and can be applied in practice.

Why This Matters

AI can improve efficiency and support better services, but it also creates new forms of risk. These may include poor-quality outputs, inappropriate reliance on automated tools, weak oversight, unclear accountability, data protection concerns, procurement issues, and the gradual use of systems that no one has properly checked or governed.

In some cases, the risk is not dramatic failure. It is quieter than that. A tool may sound authoritative, appear to cite sources, or produce plausible work product, and so come to be relied upon too readily. Good governance helps organisations ask the right questions before that reliance becomes routine.

Our Style of Support

We do not approach AI as a fashionable add-on. We approach it as part of governance.

That means looking at how tools are actually being used, who is responsible for them, what risks they create, what safeguards are in place, and what boards or senior teams need in order to exercise proper oversight.

Our advice is independent, measured, and practical. We are not tied to software vendors, and we do not assume that every organisation needs the same level of process. Some need a light-touch framework and clear staff boundaries. Others need more formal structures, registers, assessments, and reporting.

Typical Support May Include

AI acceptable use policies for staff and consultants; AI governance frameworks; AI system registers; AI risk and impact assessments; deployment and sign-off processes; incident response arrangements; privacy screening and DPIA support; vendor and procurement review; board briefing material; and assurance reviews of existing arrangements.

Who This Is For

This support is particularly relevant for charities, non-profits, governing bodies, regulated organisations, public interest bodies, and smaller enterprises that want to make sensible use of AI without losing sight of accountability, legal obligations, or good governance.

It is also useful for organisations that already have strong data protection arrangements and now need to extend that thinking into AI.

Talk to Us

If your organisation is beginning to use AI tools, reviewing its current position, or looking for a proportionate governance framework, we would be happy to discuss what support would be most useful. Find out the best ways to contact us here.