Eighteen questions. Five minutes. Scored across six dimensions: the four STAR pillars plus Ownership and Augmentation. Introduced in the #2 most-downloaded board AI governance paper on SSRN.
This is not a maturity quiz that tells everyone they are doing fine. It is built to surface the gap between what your board says about AI and what it is actually governing.
Answer as the board behaves today, not as you wish it behaved.
Moving without guardrails. This company is deploying AI faster than the board has sized the risk. That combination is not a stage on the way to good governance, it is a way off the path. The capability is real and the brake is missing.
Governed but losing. This board has built a brake rather than power steering. Risk is handled and pace is not. Control without speed is its own exposure, because the competitive threat does not pause while the board gets comfortable.
What serious boards do next
A question that now applies to this board. Has it settled how AI-assisted board materials are treated for privilege and discovery? Three 2026 decisions have addressed AI-assisted work product and the answer is not automatic. Boards using AI well are the ones for whom this matters first.
A question that now applies to this board. Is management paid for launching AI, or for the value it produces after the cost of controls and the risk it carries? A clear value thesis makes this answerable. Most compensation committees have not been asked.
The paper is free. A board session is by inquiry. The full method, including every question, threshold, and gate, is published.
The STAR Framework, extended: Shareholder Value Thesis, Threat Parity, Ability, Risk Budget, Ownership, Augmentation.
Full method at /check/methodology. | boardaiinstitute.com