Does your business need an AI policy?

Why have one

AI tools are useful, and people will use them whether or not there is a rule. Without guidance, confidential information goes into free public tools, AI-written content goes out unchecked, and nobody knows which tools hold company data.

A policy does not need to be long. One or two pages that people actually read beats a long document nobody opens.

What to include

• Approved tools. Which AI tools staff may use for work, signed in with work accounts. Business versions usually keep your data private; free consumer versions may not.
• What never goes in. Client personal information, financial details, passwords, contracts, anything under a confidentiality agreement, unless the tool is approved for it.
• Checking the output. A person reviews anything AI-written before it is sent, published or relied on, especially facts, figures and names.
• Being open about it. When it should be disclosed that AI was used, for example in client deliverables.
• Asking for new tools. How to request one, and who decides.
• Who to tell if something sensitive was entered by mistake.

Make it work

• Give people a good approved tool, so they do not need a free one.
• Train them on what it is good at and where it fails.
• Review the policy every six months; the tools change fast.