TM Forum and Accenture Launch Trustworthy AI Governance Certification

TM Forum, in collaboration with Accenture, has launched a multi-year initiative aimed at fostering trusted AI autonomy in the telecommunications industry. The program, dubbed the Trustworthy AI Governance Certification, is designed to help telecommunications service providers (CSPs) scale AI and autonomous operations with confidence.

According to TM Forum research, while 72% of CSPs believe their AI capabilities are trustworthy, only 14% can verify these claims. This gap between perceived and provable trust is critical as AI systems take on greater autonomy. The initiative seeks to bridge this gap by providing a practical measure of governance maturity, workforce readiness, and operational accountability.

Guy Lupo, Executive Vice President of Trustworthy AI and Data at TM Forum, emphasized the importance of transforming AI trust from a policy aspiration into a measurable operational capability.

The Trustworthy AI Governance Certification will serve as an industry-standard benchmark, offering a common blueprint for embedding trustworthy AI across telecom operations. It will help organizations measure trust consistently and reduce complexity with a common framework. The program will also accelerate AI adoption and strengthen operational control through best-practice guidance spanning design, deployment, and continuous monitoring.

Participants in the initiative will be able to benchmark trust maturity, expose critical gaps, and prioritize investment using industry benchmarks and AI trust level validations. Training and certification pathways will be provided to support responsible scale and build enterprise-wide capability.

The program will operate through TM Forum's AI-Native Collaboration Studios, where CSPs, vendors, hyperscalers, consultancies, and the wider ecosystem co-create code-first solutions to industry challenges. With the AI-Native Open Digital Architecture (ODA) as the standards-based foundation, the initiative aims to shape and validate the new Trustworthy AI framework.

This initiative marks a significant step towards ensuring that AI systems in the telecommunications sector are not only trusted but also capable of making decisions with accountability, transparency, and control. By addressing the gap between perceived and provable trust, the program aims to transform AI from a supporting role to a decision-making entity, driving the autonomous enterprise forward.