Clear Path step · Business · AI used on your terms
Write a one-page AI rule and approve the tools
Everyone knows which AI tools are approved and which data never goes into them.
Why it matters: Your team may well be using AI already. The question is which tools, on which terms, with what data, and a short rule answers it before a client file ends up in a personal chatbot.
Do it
- List the AI already in use, including free chatbots, browser extensions, meeting note-takers and AI features inside software you pay for.
- Approve a short list on business accounts, ideally inside the suite you already pay for.
- Sort data into green, yellow and red, and say plainly that red never goes into AI.
- Keep a named person responsible for every AI output sent to a client.
- Have everyone sign it and review it twice a year.
Say this: If I'm not sure a file can go into an AI tool, I treat it as red and leave it out.
Check it worked: Staff have signed a one-page AI rule naming approved tools, the business accounts to use, what data never goes in, and who checks AI output; personal AI accounts are out of work.
Simply put
It's like a staff rule for the company car: which car, for what, and what never goes in the trunk. Your team may well be using AI already, so one page decides which tools, which accounts and which data.
In detail
The free AI Acceptable Use Policy in the Policy Library expands the one-page rule into a full policy. Before turning on an AI assistant inside your suite, fix overshared folders: the assistant can surface anything a user can technically open.
As a story
A client sends over a spreadsheet of their customers and asks for a quick summary by Friday. Your newest hire, keen to help, opens a free chatbot on her personal account.
Then she remembers the one-page AI rule she signed. Customer names and contact details are red: they never go into any AI tool, and personal accounts are out for work. She asks you instead.
You point her to the approved tool on your business account. She removes the names and contact details first, gets the summary, checks it and sends it under her own name. The client has it on Thursday.
If this is new to you: Not sure where to start? List the AI already in use, without blame. The free AI Acceptable Use Policy in our Policy Library has the wording ready.
Points toward the Long View: a team that adopts new AI tools on your terms, not by accident.