AI Policy

An AI policy is the formal document that defines how people in an organization may select, build, buy, use, and monitor AI. It typically covers which tools are approved, what data may be submitted to external AI systems, what uses are prohibited without escalation, and who to contact when something is unclear. A useful policy is specific enough that an employee facing a real situation knows what to do — not so abstract that they defer to judgment or ignore it entirely.

The gap between an organization's stated AI principles and what employees actually do is largely a policy and training problem. When employees don't have clear answers to everyday questions — can I paste this client document into an AI tool? — they either avoid AI altogether or make their own call. Both outcomes have costs. A policy that employees can't act on is governance theater; one they've never seen is no policy at all.