AI Governance Framework Update:
The Hourglass Model of
Organizational AI Governance (2026 Edition)

FLAIG’s mission was to further iterate and update the AI governance framework for GenAI needs. The framework contains actionable principles for organizations using GenAI in their critical processes on organizational level as well as a part of daily GenAI lifecycle management processes.

This piece of work is a fundamental development needed to bring ethical GenAI theories into real world practices.

The governance framework development was conducted in two phases:

1) Review of the state of art and building first draft version of governance practices to be introduced with FLAIG business partners.

2) Testing the design artefact with real world data in co-operation with consortium business partners and other selected external stakeholders.

Publications and outreach:

Reports

Minkkinen, M., Jylhä, H., Birkstedt, T., & Mäntymäki, M. (2026). Addressing the principles-to-practice- gap in AI ethics and regulation: Designing an AI governance reference model. Online Appendix. University of Turku.

Scientific publications

Minkkinen, M., Jylhä, H., & Mäntymäki, M. (2026). AI governance: A layered institutional perspective. Working paper. (unpublished)

Jylhä, H., Minkkinen, M., & Mäntymäki, M. (2026). Race against or with the machine? From perceived limitations, concerns, and futures of GenAI governance to anticipatory governance. ISPIM 2026 proceedings.

Presentations and talks

2.12.2026, ISPIM 2026 conference, Sendai, Japan: “Race against or with the machine? From perceived limitations, concerns, and futures of GenAI governance to anticipatory governance”, Henrietta Jylhä (University of Turku).

3.11.2026, FLAIG Summit: “Towards Governing Generative AI: The Updated Hourglass Model of AI Governance”,  Henrietta Jylhä (University of Turku). Download the presentation

15.9.2026, I3E 2026 conference, Tampere, Finland: “Interorganizational AI governance in academic and grey literature”, Fuad Khan (University of Turku).

15.9.2026, I3E 2026 conference, Tampere, Finland: “Governance by negotiation: How organizations translate AI ethics into practice”, Teemu Birkstedt (University of Turku).

Teaching

4.2.2026, “Responsible AI: AI governance, business models, and ecosystems”, guest lecture, Matti Minkkinen (University of Turku).

The research approaches include:

  • Systematic literature reviews
  • Expert interviews
  • Co-creation with business partners
  • Case studies from various fields
  • Regulatory analysis and research
  • Publishing research results