Organisations tend to start AI projects with a tool and work backwards to a policy. The better order is the reverse. A short governance conversation up front prevents the awkward ones later.
Name an owner
Every AI system needs a person, not a committee, who is accountable for what it does. That person decides whether it goes live, monitors how it behaves and has the authority to switch it off.
Decide what data it may use
Be explicit about which data the system can read, which it must never see and how long anything it produces is kept. Customer, employee and financial records usually deserve different rules.
Plan for being wrong
- Where does a human review the output before it affects a customer or an employee?
- How will staff and customers report a bad result, and who responds?
- What is the fallback when the system is unavailable or unreliable?
Review on a schedule
Models, data and business conditions all change. Put a review date in the calendar on the day you launch, and treat the first reviews as the most valuable.
This article is general information for decision-makers, not professional, legal or technical advice. Speak to a qualified adviser about your own situation.
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