What is an AI policy?
An AI policy is your rule for how the company may use AI tools: which tools, what data may be pasted, what must be reviewed, and who can turn on a send. A vendor's acceptable use policy is their rule for what you may do with their product. You need both, and they are not substitutes.
Also called: acceptable use policy, AUP
In plain English
The vendor's AUP tells you what would get the account closed. Your policy tells the crew what you actually allow on a Tuesday. One page is enough: approved tools, no customer files in personal chat accounts, drafts are drafts until a named person sends them, and what to do if something odd went out. Fit the policy on one page and read it at the next hire's first morning. Name the tools you pay for, the stuff that stays out of personal accounts, and who sends. A policy that bans AI while the crew already uses it will be ignored. A policy that allows everything will be cited after a bad send. Pick the real line.
How an owner would use it
Write it in the same place as your other SOPs. Name the tools you pay for. Say what is forbidden to paste. Review it when you add a tool. A policy nobody has read is a poster.
Common mistakes
Copying a ten-page policy from the internet and never mentioning your actual tools is theater. So is having no policy while three apps are already connected to mail. Do not let the policy ban AI and then ignore the shadow accounts. Do not treat the vendor's terms as your staff rules. This page is not legal advice. If you have a regulated practice, have a lawyer read the version you will enforce.
A worked example
A landscaping crew
Personal ChatGPT stays off the customer list
This is an illustration, not a customer result. The policy says estimates are drafted in the company tool from the site notes, and the salesperson sends them. Crew leads may use AI to rewrite a checklist. They may not paste the customer spreadsheet into a personal account. The page lives next to the other SOPs.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What is an AI policy for a small business?
It is the company rule for approved tools, forbidden data, and who must review a draft before a customer or the public sees it.
How do I write one without a legal department?
List the tools, the data that stays out, and the send rule. Put it where new hires already read SOPs. Update it when a new app gets a login.
What is an acceptable use policy?
An acceptable use policy, or AUP, is the vendor's rulebook for their service. Yours is the AI policy. Read theirs so you do not violate the account. Write yours so the staff know the shop's line.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.