What Should an AI Acceptable Use Policy Include?
An AI acceptable use policy should define how employees may use AI for business purposes, including approved tools, appropriate data use, employee responsibilities and activities requiring additional review.
What Should an AI Acceptable Use Policy Include?
An AI acceptable use policy should define how employees may use artificial intelligence for business purposes, including approved tools, appropriate data use, employee responsibilities, human review and activities requiring additional approval.
A good policy should protect the organization without making responsible AI unnecessarily difficult to use.
It should help employees understand both what they should not do and what they can do.
Why Does a Business Need an AI Acceptable Use Policy?
AI adoption can happen very quickly.
Employees don't necessarily need IT assistance to create an account, begin using an AI platform or incorporate AI into their work.
Without guidance, different employees may make very different assumptions about what is appropriate.
One employee may avoid AI entirely because they're uncertain about company policy.
Another may upload sensitive company information into a personal AI account without recognizing the risk.
A clear policy reduces that uncertainty.
What Should an AI Acceptable Use Policy Address?
The specifics should reflect the organization, its industry and its risk profile, but several areas generally deserve consideration.
Approved AI Tools
Employees should understand which AI platforms are approved for business use and whether company-managed accounts are required.
Company Information
The policy should explain what types of business information may be used with approved AI platforms and which types require additional protection or approval.
Employee Accountability
AI can produce incomplete, misleading or incorrect information.
Employees should remain responsible for reviewing AI-assisted work appropriately, particularly when the outcome affects clients, financial decisions, legal matters or other consequential activities.
Confidentiality and Intellectual Property
Employees should understand their responsibilities when working with confidential information, proprietary company material, client data and intellectual property.
AI Integrations
Connecting an AI platform to email, documents or other company systems can expand what information the platform can access.
Availability of a connector should not automatically equal authorization to use it.
AI-Created Applications and Automations
Employees increasingly have the ability to create applications, agents and automations with AI assistance.
A policy should make clear that experimentation and operational deployment are not necessarily the same thing.
When an AI-created solution begins handling sensitive information or becoming important to a business process, additional review may be appropriate.
Should an AI Policy Ban Certain Uses?
Potentially.
Some uses may be inappropriate because of security, privacy, regulatory, contractual or other business concerns.
But a policy consisting primarily of prohibitions can create another problem:
Employees may not understand what is permitted.
Mentis believes an effective policy should provide a path toward responsible use, not simply a list of restrictions.
Is an AI Acceptable Use Policy the Same as AI Governance?
No.
An AI policy is one component of AI governance.
A written policy establishes expectations.
Governance is broader and may also involve approved technology, security, employee education, leadership oversight, risk management and processes for evaluating new AI opportunities.
A policy tells people the rules.
Governance helps the organization put those rules into practice.
How Often Should an AI Policy Be Reviewed?
AI is evolving too quickly for organizations to treat an AI policy as a document that is written once and forgotten.
New platforms, capabilities, integrations and business use cases will continue to emerge.
Policies should therefore be reviewed as the organization's use of AI changes and as meaningful new risks or requirements arise.
The objective isn't to chase every AI announcement.
It's to ensure company guidance continues to reflect how employees actually work.
How Does Mentis Approach AI Policy?
Mentis views policy as part of a broader enablement strategy.
Employees need understandable boundaries, but they also need approved ways to use AI productively.
A strong policy should support the larger objective:
Create a safe path to yes.
Related Articles
- What Is AI Governance and Why Does a Business Need It?
- What Is Shadow AI and Why Is It a Business Risk?
- What Information Should Employees Never Put Into AI Tools?
- Should Employees Be Allowed to Use ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Other AI Tools at Work?
An AI policy should reflect how your organization actually uses technology—not a generic template. Mentis Group can help establish practical AI governance that protects the organization while supporting responsible adoption.
Have a question about your own environment? Schedule a consultation with Mentis Group or call (866) 901-7808.