How To Apply the New PMI AI Standard

AI is already being used in project work to summarize information, analyze data, forecast, identify risks, generate plans, and support decisions.

The question for practitioners isn't whether we should use it. The question is: how do we use AI responsibly, and how do we know when we can trust its output?

PMI's new Standard for Artificial Intelligence in Portfolio, Program, and Project Management, ANSI/PMI 26-007-2023, published this past June, is built to answer exactly that.

The PMI AI Standard Principles

The standard provides eight guiding principles (strategic value, risk, governance and compliance, people and culture, ethics and professional responsibility, stakeholder engagement, optimization and innovation, data quality) and five performance domains to help project professionals influence decisions about using AI.

For example, before introducing an AI tool to support project decisions, ask your project team:

Strategic value: What business problem are we solving?

Risk: What could happen if the AI recommendation is wrong?

Governance: Who is permitted to use the tool, and what information can be entered?

Professional responsibility: Who reviews the AI output before a decision is made?

Stakeholder engagement: Do the people relying on the forecast understand what AI can and cannot tell them?

Data quality: Is the data reliable enough to support the analysis?

This is where the PMI standard becomes useful. It gives project professionals a structured way to evaluate an AI application before relying on it. The standard helps turn “we should use AI responsibly” into a set of considerations that can be applied to an actual project decision.

What should project professionals do differently?

Stop asking "Can AI make this decision?"

Start asking "Can AI improve the information available to the subject matter expert who makes this decision?"

That's the PMI AI standard's core stance on human-in-the-loop practice: AI is there to sharpen judgment, not substitute for it.

Bottom line for practitioners

As AI generates more plans, schedules, and risk registers, the value of a project professional shifts toward critical thinking, integration, and knowing what not to automate. Before your next AI rollout, don't start with the tool; start with assessing whether you have a consistent way to identify where it creates value, its risks, and who governs its output.

PMI members can access the digital standard free of charge. Non-members can access it through the link: PMI — The Standard for Artificial Intelligence in Portfolio, Program and Project Management