Safe AI Usage Policies
GravIT writes practical AI acceptable-use policies for Geelong businesses: which tools your staff may use, what data must never leave the building, and how AI output gets checked, backed by technical controls and a staff briefing, so company data stops leaking into public AI tools.
The problem nobody has written down yet
Somewhere in your business today, someone is pasting text into a free AI tool to save twenty minutes. Usually harmless. Occasionally it's a client contract, a staff issue, or your pricing. Without a policy, every one of those is a judgement call made alone, in a hurry. With one, the easy path is the safe path. The industry now calls the unmanaged version shadow AI, and it is exactly what it sounds like: AI in use across the business that nobody approved, nobody tracks, and nobody has thought about the data going into.
What a GravIT safe AI usage policy delivers
- Acceptable-use policy. Written for your business in plain English: approved tools, banned tools, data that never goes in, how output is verified, who to ask.
- Data-leakage safeguards. Approved business-grade tools set up properly; risky ones blocked where that's proportionate.
- Staff briefing. A short session on the why, with real examples, so the policy lives outside the drawer.
Pairs naturally with AI readiness (the groundwork) and Copilot enablement (the approved tool most 365 businesses land on).
What's included
- Acceptable-use policy creation
- Approved / banned tool list
- Data-classification guidance
- Technical safeguards
- Staff briefing session
Frequently asked questions
What is shadow AI?
AI use your business has not sanctioned and cannot see: staff pasting work into free chatbots, browser AI extensions, transcription tools recording meetings, all with company or client data going somewhere no one has vetted. It is the same problem shadow IT was, moving faster. A policy plus approved tools brings it into the light; the point is not to ban AI but to know where your data goes.
Why does my business need an AI usage policy?
Because your staff are already using AI, usually free public tools, usually with good intentions, sometimes with client data. A policy turns that from an unmanaged risk into a managed practice: what's allowed, what's confidential, which tools are approved.
What goes into an acceptable-use policy for AI?
Which tools are approved and which are banned; what data classes must never be entered (client records, financials, credentials, personal information); how AI output must be checked before it's used; and who to ask when unsure. Short enough that people actually read it.
What's wrong with staff using free public AI tools?
Free consumer tools may use what you type to train their models, and you have no contract governing where that data goes. Pasting a client's contract into one is functionally publishing it. Approved business-grade tools with proper data terms fix this.
Is a policy enough on its own?
No. It pairs with technical controls (approved tools rolled out properly, risky ones blocked where appropriate) and a short staff briefing so everyone knows the reasoning as well as the rules. We deliver all three.
Does this tie into the Privacy Act?
Yes. If you hold personal information, feeding it to an uncontracted AI service sits badly with your Privacy Act obligations. The policy is part of showing you handle data reasonably, alongside our broader cyber security work.
Your staff are already using AI without rules
A policy takes days to sort rather than months. Let's get it written.