EC-Council launches ADG AI Framework and free self-assessment tool to help organizations secure and govern artificial intelligence at scale

EC-Council announced the Adopt. Defend. Govern. (ADG) Framework on May 28, 2026, developed with practitioners from Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, KPMG, Deloitte, NTT Data, GE Healthcare, GlobalLogic, Prudential, and Salesforce. The framework provides three pillars, 12 minimum controls, and nine governance surfaces, aligned with the EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001, and the NIST AI RMF.

The ADG Framework is described as a practitioner-led execution framework engineered for real-world deployment, establishing enforceable minimum controls, operational validation standards, and accountability mechanisms applicable to AI systems, agentic AI environments (autonomous AI systems that make decisions independently), multi-model architectures, and large language model ecosystems.

Industry data cited in the announcement shows only 1% of leaders believe their AI governance capabilities have reached maturity, while 78% of executives say they would not feel confident in passing an AI governance audit within the next 90 days. Global AI spending is projected to reach $2.5 trillion in 2026.