Company Backgrounder

The AIQ™ Score

The AIQ score is a standardized, evidence-based rating of enterprise AI governance quality. It encompasses 250 governance factors across the full spectrum of enterprise AI risk: model development and validation, data governance, human oversight, bias and fairness, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and organizational accountability.

The rating methodology produces a score on a 0–200 scale that functions like a credit rating for AI governance. It is independent, repeatable, and built on verifiable evidence rather than self-attestation. That distinction—self-attestation is not governance—is the core principle that runs through everything AIQA does.

The scoring methodology draws on recognized governmental and non-governmental AI standards, including the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, the EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001, and other established frameworks. A provisional patent application covering the AIQ score methodology has been filed.

Market Opportunity & Regulatory Urgency

Companies are investing in artificial intelligence at an unprecedented pace, yet almost no one is measuring whether that AI is being used responsibly, safely, or effectively. According to a January 2025 McKinsey survey, only one percent of organizational leaders describe their companies as AI-mature, even as the overwhelming majority plan to increase AI investment.

Insurance as a Forcing Mechanism

Insurance carriers are beginning to scrutinize AI governance in underwriting decisions, and new policy exclusions addressing generative AI risk are emerging—a pattern that mirrors the early trajectory of SOC 2 and PCI adoption. As underwriting practices evolve, companies that lack measurable AI governance evidence may face higher premiums, coverage restrictions, or reduced availability.

Applicable Market Segments

AIQA has developed dedicated reference materials for seven distinct market segments. The AIQ score itself is consistent across all segments—same methodology, same scale, same independence.

The seven segments form a connected system: enterprise adoption creates demand, insurance creates enforcement, investors reinforce through valuation, audit and law firms scale delivery, technology providers embed governance into infrastructure, and government adoption legitimizes the standard.

Origin Story

In the summer of 2025, Jim Malackowski and his son Chase shared a common belief that Artificial Intelligence was going to be the defining technology of their lifetime and they were determined to immerse themselves in the potential opportunity and understand the risks. Drawing on a favorite movie of Jim’s, Back to School, the pair decided to enroll together seeking the first ever master’s degree in AI Management offered by Georgetown University.

Midway through their first semester the pair realized that enterprises are adopting AI at extraordinary speed, but no one is measuring whether they are governing it well. The opportunity to address the problem was not hypothetical. Regulatory mandates were emerging globally—the EU AI Act, U.S. federal procurement rules, SEC disclosure expectations, state-level legislation—and yet no standardized, independent, evidence-based rating system existed for enterprise AI governance quality.

Jim recognized this gap as a category-creation opportunity—directly analogous to one he had seen before. AIQA Global was formed in November 2025. The company is headquartered in Chicago with offices in North Miami Beach and Greenwich. Joel E. Lutzker, the third co-founder, serves as Chief IP Officer and manages prosecution of AIQA’s pending patent applications.

The Ocean Tomo Precedent

AIQA’s methodology follows the playbook James Malackowski used at Ocean Tomo, LLC, where he served as Chairman and CEO. At Ocean Tomo, he launched the Ocean Tomo Ratings™ system, which evaluated U.S. patents using a set of objective renewal and citation metrics drawn from publicly available patent office data. Patents that get renewed, cited by other inventors, and maintained over long periods tend to be more valuable than patents abandoned early. Ocean Tomo took those signals and turned them into quality scores.

Ocean Tomo then used those scores to construct the Ocean Tomo 300® Patent Index (NYSE: OTPAT), a rules-based stock market index selecting 300 companies based on patent portfolio strength. The index outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 1,600 basis points over nearly a decade—proving that intangible asset quality, when properly measured, is a reliable predictor of business performance.

The AIQ score applies the same principle. Where Ocean Tomo evaluated patents using renewal metrics from the USPTO, the AIQ score evaluates company AI governance using metrics drawn from governmental and non-governmental AI standards. And just as Ocean Tomo turned patent scores into an investable stock market index, AIQA is developing the AIQ 100™ Governance Index—a rules-based public equity index selecting 100 stocks based on AI governance quality and AI adoption opportunity.

Leadership

James E. Malackowski

Chairman & Co-Founder

Jim currently serves as Chief Intellectual Property Officer of J.S. Held LLC, a 2,000-person global consulting firm. He brings four decades of leadership at the intersection of intellectual property, finance, and technology. At Ocean Tomo, LLC, where he served as Chairman and CEO, he launched the Ocean Tomo Ratings™ system and the Ocean Tomo 300® Patent Index (NYSE: OTPAT). A 2022 inductee to the IP Hall of Fame and the 2025 recipient of the LES Gold Medal—the highest honor in the global business of intellectual property—he is one of only seven individuals in history to hold both distinctions. He is a participant in the inaugural 2025 cohort of Georgetown University’s Master’s program in AI Management.

Chase J. Malackowski

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Chase is the developer of the 250-factor AIQ™ score methodology. A graduate of the University of Southern California’s Iovine and Young Academy for Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation, he is completing graduate studies at Georgetown University in AI-driven decision-making and ethical AI as a member of the program’s inaugural cohort. He is also the founder of Career Capture, an AI-powered professional development platform.

Joel E. Lutzker

Co-Founder & Chief IP Officer

A career patent attorney and former Ocean Tomo General Counsel, Joel manages firm legal matters including prosecution of AIQA’s two pending patent applications—one covering the AIQ score methodology and one covering the AI governance-based public equity index construction.