How to choose AI compliance software

01

Map your obligations first

• EU AI Act: are you a provider or deployer of AI systems placed on the EU market, and are any systems high-risk?
• ISO/IEC 42001: do customers or partners ask for a certified AI management system?
• NIST AI RMF: do US public-sector or enterprise buyers expect alignment?
• NYC Local Law 144: do you use automated employment decision tools for candidates or employees in New York City?
• Colorado and other US state laws: do AI tools influence consequential decisions about consumers or workers?
• Sector rules: insurance, banking (for example OSFI E-23 in Canada), and health care

Write down which obligations apply, the dates they apply from, and who owns each one. Ask counsel to confirm scope; software does not decide legal classification for you.

02

Check framework coverage in depth

A framework listed on a website is not the same as an article-level or clause-level mapping. Ask each vendor for the control mapping for your frameworks, how many requirements it covers, and how they update content when a law or standard changes.

03

Choose a buying model

• Compliance automation / GRC platform: adds AI frameworks to the same tool you use for SOC 2 or ISO 27001. Good when you already run one.
• AI governance and risk platform: built around an AI inventory, intake, risk assessments, and AI-specific controls. Good when AI use is broad or high-risk.
• Audit and assurance services: an independent party performs a certification audit or a bias audit.

04

Test evidence automation

Ask which evidence is collected automatically from your systems and which is a manual upload. Check the integrations you need, whether controls are monitored continuously, whether evidence for one framework can be reused for another, and whether you can export evidence for an auditor.

05

Plan the audit path

For ISO/IEC 42001, confirm who will certify you and whether that body is accredited. For NYC Local Law 144, the bias audit must be done by an independent auditor and the employer publishes the summary. If one company provides both readiness work and the audit, ask how they keep the two separate.

06

Review the vendor’s own security evidence

You will put sensitive AI and risk data into this tool. Ask for current reports, not badges: SOC 2 Type II report, ISO/IEC 27001 certificate and scope, ISO/IEC 42001 certificate and scope, data residency, subprocessors, and data retention and deletion.

07

Commercials

Clarify how price scales (frameworks, employees, AI systems, modules), whether AI frameworks are an add-on, whether audit fees are included, contract length, and renewal terms. Few vendors in this market publish prices; most quote per company.