Artificial intelligence assurance is beginning to look more “infrastructure-like” as accreditation frameworks catch up with fast-growing demand for AI audits. In a notable milestone for standards-based AI governance, BSI announced that it has become the first certification body accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)—and also accredited by the Dutch Raad voor Accreditatie (RvA)—to deliver certification against ISO/IEC 42001, the international standard for Artificial Intelligence Management Systems (AIMS).
The development matters less for its headline “first” status than for what accreditation signals: a recognised layer of oversight around competence, impartiality, and consistency in a market that has quickly become crowded with AI assurance offerings. For organisations exploring ISO/IEC 42001 as a way to demonstrate responsible AI practices, UKAS-accredited certification provides an additional confidence marker for customers, partners, and regulators.
ISO/IEC 42001 sets out a management-system framework for governing AI across an organisation—covering organisational, technical, and ethical controls—and is designed to apply both to companies building AI solutions and to organisations embedding AI into products, services, and internal operations. As adoption accelerates and regulatory expectations rise, accredited certification is likely to become a more common “trust signal” in AI procurement and governance programmes.
