WORK WITHIN YOUR ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

Before using AI to help create a document, analyze information, or improve a business process, there's another important question to ask:

Does this use of AI align with your organization's Acceptable Use Policy?

An Acceptable Use Policy helps employees understand how company technology, systems, applications, and information should—and shouldn't—be used. As AI becomes another everyday business tool, those guidelines are increasingly important.

Why This Question Gets Skipped

Most employees aren't trying to cause a problem when they paste a client email into ChatGPT to draft a reply, or upload a spreadsheet to summarize it faster. They're just trying to get their work done efficiently. The issue isn't intent—it's that AI tools are new enough that many Acceptable Use Policies simply don't mention them yet.

That gap creates a quiet risk: employees are already using AI, whether or not the policy has caught up. Without clear guidance, decisions about what's appropriate to share are being made person by person, tool by tool, with no consistent standard behind them.

What Employees Should Understand Before Entering Information Into AI

Before entering business information into an AI platform, employees should understand:

• Which AI tools are approved for business use.
• What company information can be entered into those tools.
• What information is considered confidential or sensitive.
• Whether client, employee, financial, or proprietary information can be used.
• When AI-generated work requires human review or approval.
• How AI-generated information should be stored, shared, or incorporated into company documents.

If you're unsure whether information is appropriate to enter into an AI tool, stop and check your organization's policy or ask before submitting it.

A Simple Way to Picture the Risk

Think about the kinds of information that pass through a single email inbox in a week: client contract details, employee performance notes, financial figures, maybe even a password reset request. Now imagine an employee pasting any one of those into a free, consumer-grade AI tool to "clean up the wording" or "summarize it faster."

Depending on the tool, that information may be stored, used to train future models, or simply sitting outside your organization's control entirely. The employee likely never considered that risk—they were just trying to save time. That's exactly the gap an updated Acceptable Use Policy is meant to close.

Your Acceptable Use Policy May Need an AI Update

If your organization's Acceptable Use Policy was written before tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot became part of everyday business, now may be a good time to review it.

Your AI guidelines don't necessarily need to be complicated. Employees should be able to answer a few simple questions:

• What AI tools can I use?
• What information can I give them?
• What am I responsible for checking?
• When do I need approval?

Giving employees clear boundaries allows them to explore the productivity benefits of AI while helping protect your organization's information.

What a Basic AI Policy Update Might Include

If you're starting from scratch, an AI-specific addition to your Acceptable Use Policy doesn't need to be a lengthy legal document. At minimum, it should identify:

• An approved tools list — the specific AI platforms employees are permitted to use for business purposes.
• A data classification reminder — a quick reference for what counts as confidential, sensitive, or client-restricted information.
• A review step — a requirement that AI-generated content be checked by a person before it's sent externally or relied upon for a decision.
• An escalation path — who to ask when an employee isn't sure whether something is appropriate to enter into an AI tool.

Even a one-page addition covering these points gives your team far more clarity than silence on the topic.

AI Confidence Means Knowing When—Not Just How

AI confidence isn't only about knowing how to use AI. It's also knowing when and where it's appropriate to use it.

An employee who can write a great AI prompt but doesn't know whether they're allowed to paste in client financial data isn't AI confident yet—they're just AI capable. Real AI confidence combines both: the skill to use the tool well, and the judgment to know when it's the right tool for the information in front of them.

Take the Next Step

An outdated Acceptable Use Policy isn't a reason to slow down your team's AI adoption—it's a reason to give them clearer guardrails so they can use AI with confidence.

Not sure if your current policy covers AI? Reach out to Attitude IT for a quick policy review, and let's identify the gaps together. Or join our upcoming AI Confidence Webinar to learn practical ways to build safe, effective AI guidelines for your organization.

Ready to take the next step? Visit www.attitudeit.ca/ai-confidence to learn more and register, or contact us today for a free policy review.