After the death of his elder brother Adarnase in 896, he probably stepped in and co-reigned with his nephew David who was still underage at that time.

When David died in 908, Ashot became a sole ruler which he remained until his own death in 918.

[1] The Georgian chronicles Kartlis Tskhovreba and contemporary hagiography such as the Vita of Grigol Khandzteli by Giorgi Merchule evidence that Ashot was a keen supporter of monasticism and cultural projects in Tao-Klarjeti.

He sponsored the construction of a cathedral at Tbeti in Shavsheti (now Cevizli, Turkey) and installed as its first bishop Stepane Mtbevari from whom Ashot commissioned the hagiographic novel Martyrdom of Mikel-Gobron.

A statue purportedly showing Ashot Kukhi which was removed from Tbeti towards the end of World War I is now on display at the Art Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi.