# Inventory and Lifecycle Gates — AI Strategy, Ethics and Governance

Source: https://www.geekswithgeeks.com/en/ai-strategy-governance/gov-inventory-gates

> Keep a register of every AI system and require evidence at each stage before it moves forward.

## You cannot govern what you cannot see

Maintain an **inventory** (register) of all AI systems and use cases: owner, purpose, tier, data sources, model or vendor, evaluation results, human-oversight arrangement, approval date and **next review date**. Add **lifecycle gates**: idea (use-case canvas), design (impact assessment for higher tiers), pre-launch (evaluation results and sign-off), live (monitoring), and retirement (data deletion). A system that lacks a required item does not pass the gate.

## A gate check, run

I ran this. The entry is missing its evaluation results and privacy review, so the gate lists exactly those two items to fix.

```python
REQUIRED = ["owner", "purpose", "data_sources", "risk_tier",
            "eval_results", "human_oversight", "privacy_review"]

def missing(entry):
    return [k for k in REQUIRED if not entry.get(k)]

print(missing({"owner": "A. Rao", "purpose": "FAQ bot", "data_sources": ["kb"],
               "risk_tier": "limited", "eval_results": "",
               "human_oversight": "agent handoff"}))
```

Output:

```
['eval_results', 'privacy_review']
```

## Finding overdue reviews, run

Each entry has a last-review date and a review interval in days. On 1 October 2026 the FAQ bot is 34 days overdue; the other two are within their intervals.

```python
from datetime import date
inv = [("FAQ bot", date(2026, 3, 1), 180),
       ("Resume screener", date(2026, 8, 20), 90),
       ("Summariser", date(2025, 12, 1), 365)]
today = date(2026, 10, 1)
for name, last, days in inv:
    due = (today - last).days - days
    print(name, "OVERDUE by" if due > 0 else "ok", max(due, 0))
```

Output:

```
FAQ bot OVERDUE by 34
Resume screener ok 0
Summariser ok 0
```

## Higher tiers, shorter intervals

Review high-tier systems more often (quarterly or on any significant change) and low-tier ones annually. Automatic reminders from the inventory keep reviews from quietly lapsing.

**Quiz:** Why keep an inventory of AI systems?

- [ ] It speeds up the models
- [ ] It is only decoration
- [x] You cannot govern, review or audit systems you do not know exist
- [ ] It replaces risk assessment

*Answer:* You cannot govern, review or audit systems you do not know exist. An inventory is the base of every other governance activity.