Trying to ensure that "AI is responsible, practical, and centered on people," on July 21, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), together with the AI Applied Consortium, announced the release of its AI Governance Architecture.

The framework is designed to help companies implement artificial intelligence responsibly while strengthening—not replacing—the workforce.

The group, representing an $8.7 trillion industry, said that the framework provides wholesale distributors with practical guidance on governance, risk management, transparency, workforce development, and responsible AI implementation.

The association notes that "rather than viewing AI as a replacement for people, the framework emphasizes human-centered deployment that empowers employees with new skills, improves decision-making, strengthens customer trust, and enhances supply chain resilience."

The brief that is aimed at federal and state policy makers outlines three priorities:

1. Establish a single federal standard for AI governance applicable to wholesale distribution that preempts a multi-state patchwork that would impose disproportionate costs on the small and mid-sized firms that anchor local economies.

2. Recognize the workforce, community, and small-business dimensions of AI policy in this industry — including the empirical pattern that AI adopters in distribution are expanding workforce at higher rates than non-adopters when productivity gains are reinvested in customer-facing capability.

3. Coordinate AI policy with existing sector-specific compliance regimes rather than building parallel regulatory structures that conflict with the obligations distributors already meet under DSCSA, FSMA,TSCA, ITAR/EAR, CMMC, and others. 

Read the full AI policy brief.