Free template
The AI Acceptable-Use Policy your team will actually follow.
Your team is already using AI. The question isn't whether it gets used, it's whether it gets used in the open, with rules everyone understands. This template gives the good uses a safe, official channel and draws clear lines around the few things that need protecting. Plain language, under three pages, yours to adapt.
What a good policy does
Three jobs. That's it.
Gives people a green light
Names the tools that are approved and what for, so your best people stop wondering if they're allowed to save an hour.
Draws the real lines
Clear handling rules for client data, personal information, and confidential material. Protects the few things that matter, instead of vaguely banning everything.
Creates a path for new tools
AI tools change monthly. A policy without a request process is out of date the week you publish it. This one has a process built in.
What's inside
Nine short sections, all yours to edit.
- Why the policy exists, framed as a green light, not a rulebook
- What counts as AI use (so nobody has to guess)
- An approved-tools table you fill in for your stack
- Three-bucket data rules: fine, careful, never
- Who owns the output, and what always gets human review
- How to disclose AI use to clients
- A request process for new tools
- What to do when someone makes a mistake
Nothing in this template constitutes legal advice. Before you adopt it, have your own legal counsel and HR representatives review and adapt it to your obligations. In a regulated industry or handling sensitive personal data at scale, that review matters more, not less.
Before you ask
Straight answers on AI policies.
Do I need an AI acceptable-use policy?
If anyone on your team uses AI tools, yes, you need a policy, because they are already using them whether or not one exists. Surveys keep finding the same thing: people reach for these tools because they help. A short acceptable-use policy turns that quiet, unmanaged use into open use with clear rules, which is safer for your data and fairer to your team. It does not need to be long. A concise, clear policy of three to five pages that people actually read beats a twenty-page document nobody opens.
What should an AI acceptable-use policy include?
A good AI acceptable-use policy covers five things: which tools are approved and what for, clear data-handling rules (what is fine to put in, what needs care, and what never goes in without sign-off), who is responsible for checking AI output before it ships, how and when to disclose AI use to clients, and a simple process for requesting new tools. The data rules and the approved-tools list are where your business is genuinely different from the next one, so those deserve the most attention.
Is this AI policy template legal advice?
No. Nothing in this template constitutes legal advice. It is general guidance to help you write a practical internal policy, and a strong starting point for most small and mid-sized teams. Before you adopt it, refer it to your own legal counsel and HR representatives to clarify your policy for your obligations and jurisdiction. If you operate in a regulated industry or handle sensitive personal data at scale, that review matters more, not less.
Want a hand adapting it? That's the call.
A free, 20-minute readiness call. We'll talk through your stack and where the real data lines are for your team. If it's not a fit, you still leave with clarity.