A One-Page AI Use Policy for a Small Business (Free Template)
A small business AI use policy needs to answer four questions on one page: which AI tools staff may use, what information must never go into them, what a person must check before anything reaches a customer, and who owns the rules. Copy the template below, fill in the brackets and review it every few months; it is a starting point, not legal advice.
The template
[Business name] AI use rules
- Approved tools. Staff may use [tool and plan, for example a business plan of ChatGPT or Claude], with company accounts only. No personal accounts for company work.
- Never paste. Customer payment details, health information, passwords, government ID numbers, or anything a customer asked us to keep private. Where we can, we remove names and contact details before using a customer's message.
- A person checks before it is sent. Any price, quote, date promise, warranty or legal wording, and any message to a customer.
- AI may draft. Enquiry replies, review responses, job summaries, procedures and research notes, for a person to check.
- Be honest when asked. If a customer asks whether AI helped write a message, we tell the truth. If a customer is chatting with an AI tool on our behalf, we tell them.
- Check the facts. Facts used in quotes or marketing come from our own records or a source we checked.
- Owner. [Name] approves new AI tools and reviews these rules every [3] months.
This is a template, not legal advice.
Why each rule is there
Canada's federal, provincial and territorial privacy commissioners published principles for generative AI on December 7, 2023. Three of them map directly onto this template: use de-identified information in prompts where possible (rule 2), remember that accountability for decisions rests with the organization and not with an automated system (rule 3), and make sure people know when they are interacting with a generative AI tool (rule 5).
Rule 1 exists because AI vendors treat business plans and personal plans differently on data and training. Read each vendor's current terms for the plan you pay for before you approve it; they change.
How to roll it out
- Fill in the brackets, print it and talk it through with staff in ten minutes.
- Pin it where people work: the shared drive, the office wall, the team chat.
- Set a calendar reminder for the review date in rule 7.
- If your business handles health, legal or financial information, have your lawyer review it.
For where AI drafting fits in quoting specifically, see should AI be allowed to send your quotes?
How Schkovl can help
We write this policy with owners as part of our private team training, and our AI training workshops teach the habits behind it. Ask about training.