What is the AIGP certification?
The Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional is the IAPP’s credential for people who are accountable for AI systems — not the people who build them, the people who have to answer for them.
What it actually certifies
The AIGP tests whether you can take an AI system and reason about it responsibly: classify its risk, identify which laws apply, decide what assessment it needs, design the human oversight around it, and know what to do when it fails. It is deliberately vendor-neutral and framework-plural — you are expected to know the EU AI Act, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, the OECD principles and the core ISO AI standards, and to move between them.
What it does not test is the mathematics. There is no model training, no code, no statistics beyond understanding what a false positive rate means for the person on the wrong end of one.
The four domains
Domain I
16–20 of 100Understanding the foundations of AI governance
What AI governance is, including the common principles and pillars to build an AI governance program. Covers best practices regardless of industry, sector or size.
Domain II
19–23 of 100Understanding how laws, standards and frameworks apply to AI
Existing laws that apply to AI, as well as AI-specific laws, standards and frameworks — including the major elements of current AI laws (e.g., the EU AI Act, the South Korean AI Basic Law, federal and state AI laws that apply to private sector organizations).
Domain III
21–25 of 100Understanding how to govern AI development
The responsibilities of AI governance professionals with respect to designing, building, training, testing and maintaining AI systems.
Domain IV
21–25 of 100Understanding how to govern AI deployment and use
The responsibilities of AI governance professionals with respect to selecting an AI model, then deploying and using it responsibly through ongoing monitoring, maintenance and other key obligations. Applies whether deploying a proprietary model or one from a third party.
Domains III and IV together account for roughly half the exam, and both are application-heavy. Candidates who over-invest in memorising Domain II’s legal detail and under-invest in the governance reasoning of III and IV tend to be surprised.
Exam format
| Questions | 100 |
|---|---|
| Time | 3 hours |
| Scoring | Scaled 100–500 |
| Pass mark | 300 |
| Question types | Single-select and multi-select; multi-select is scored all-or-nothing |
| Body of Knowledge | v2.1 |
Fees, delivery options, retake policy and continuing-education requirements change over time — check the IAPP Candidate Handbook for current logistics rather than relying on any third-party page, including this one.
Common questions
What is the AIGP certification?
The Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional (AIGP) is the IAPP’s certification for people responsible for developing, managing and governing AI systems. It certifies that you understand AI fundamentals, the laws and frameworks that apply to AI, and how to govern AI across development, deployment and ongoing use.
Who is the AIGP for?
Privacy and compliance professionals extending into AI, risk and audit teams, legal counsel, product and engineering leads who own AI systems, and consultants advising on AI governance. It is a governance credential rather than a technical one — you are not asked to build models.
How many questions are on the AIGP exam?
The exam has 100 questions with a three-hour time limit. Results are reported on a scaled range of 100–500 with a pass mark of 300. Confirm current details in the IAPP Candidate Handbook, which is the authoritative source for exam logistics.
Do I need a technical background to pass the AIGP?
No. You need to understand AI concepts well enough to reason about governance — the difference between classic and generative models, why opacity and drift create risk, what bias testing involves — but the exam tests governance judgement, not mathematics or coding.
What are the four AIGP domains?
Domain I: Understanding the foundations of AI governance (16–20 of 100 questions). Domain II: Understanding how laws, standards and frameworks apply to AI (19–23 of 100 questions). Domain III: Understanding how to govern AI development (21–25 of 100 questions). Domain IV: Understanding how to govern AI deployment and use (21–25 of 100 questions).
Is the AIGP worth it?
It is currently the most widely recognised vendor-neutral AI governance credential, and it maps closely to the obligations organisations now face under the EU AI Act and comparable regimes. It is most valuable if your role involves accountability for AI systems rather than building them.
Where to go next
- How to prepare for the AIGP — a study plan, timeline and technique guide.
- Blueprint to source map — which framework each competency comes from.