Short answer: they approve the policy, not the practice. Governors don't sign off individual uses of AI any more than they approve individual lessons. Their role is strategic oversight: approving the school's AI policy, asking whether it's being followed, and checking it's reviewed.
What good governor oversight looks like
A short AI item on an existing committee's agenda once a term is sufficient for most primary schools: is the policy current, how are staff being trained, what's on the risk register, and how are parents being kept informed. Governors don't need technical knowledge to do this well — they need the same scrutiny questions they'd ask about any area of school practice. Our governor guide lists the questions worth asking.
Why this protects the school
A policy that governors have genuinely scrutinised and approved carries weight — with parents, with staff, and with inspectors. A policy nobody above SLT has ever read is a document, not governance.