Dr. Heather Domin, HCLTech
Vice President and Head of Office of Responsible AI and Governance
September 8th, 2026
- What does your job entail within your organization?
As the head of the Office of Responsible AI and Governance (ORAIG) at HCLTech, I spearhead centralized functions for responsible AI and governance. In this role, I leverage my experience in data and AI leadership to drive the company’s responsible AI strategy and governance framework, enabling the ethical and effective adoption of AI at scale. ORAIG’s goal is to drive responsible AI and governance practices forward to unlock the full value of AI as a force for good. This dedicated unit drives the design and governance of AI systems through responsible practices, creating value for businesses, partners, clients and society. It helps both HCLTech and our clients’ businesses navigate the complexities of AI governance, ethical deployment and regulatory alignment.
- What do you think are the biggest challenges your organization faces related to integrating AI into your business?
Many businesses face challenges in scaling AI, due to the speed in which the technology and broader operating environment are changing. This is particularly true as industries work to integrate newer capabilities like agentic AI. Along with the changes in technology, responsible AI and governance requirements need to continually evolve. Keeping up with the changes in technology and continual changes to the policy and requirements landscape is a challenge that many organizations face. HCLTech helps to empower businesses to scale AI confidently by providing guidance, best practices and governance models that enable alignment with laws and standards.
- Why must organizations prioritize responsible AI governance and systems in their business?
Despite worldwide recognition of the importance of responsible AI, many businesses continue to struggle. According to the AI Impact Imperatives report, 76% of respondents said their organizations have delayed AI deployments due to Responsible AI concerns. This underscores the need for organizations to continue to make progress on implementing responsible AI practices and to innovate with purpose and integrity. By prioritizing responsible AI and governance, we have worked with clients to help them achieve both alignment with regulations and standards as well as other business benefits such as time and cost savings and increased reliability and relevance of AI outputs. The benefits of responsible AI governance go beyond compliance and can help organizations achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
- What’s a lesson you’ve learned that has shaped your work in responsible AI? Why is this work important to you?
I’ve been passionate about enabling emerging technology’s benefits from early in my career and saw clearly that technology can be a powerful force for good, A key lesson has been that it is critical to have a determined mindset, given that the challenges continue to evolve over time and solutions can sometimes take much longer to emerge than we would prefer. Timing is important, and if we are determined, we can find the right time to make forward progress on challenges not easily overcome previously. For example, in the early years of AI, many organizations needed to implement manual processes for governance, but we now have a robust and growing landscape of platforms, tools, and detectors that can help organizations automate certain governance practices. Another key lesson has been that transparency is a key aspect to any AI implementation. Practices such as model cards for AI have been common at the model level, and now we see more AI labeling practices emerging at the output level. At an organizational level, we published a Responsible AI Transparency report, and reports like these can be important avenues for sharing information with stakeholders.
