Your employees are probably already using generative AI, with or without your permission. The goal is not to ban it but to govern it, so you get the benefits without creating new risks.
What AI does very well
Drafting a first version of an email, summarizing a long public document, rewording text, structuring a procedure, preparing a training outline or brainstorming. For these tasks, the time savings are real and immediate.
Three risks to manage
Confidentiality. Depending on the tool, version and settings, what you type may be retained, reviewed by the provider or used to improve the model. A client contract, an employee list or a health record does not belong in an unmanaged consumer tool.
Reliability. Models produce plausible answers, sometimes wrong, with great confidence. Anything intended for a client, a decision or publication must be checked by a person.
Compliance. Privacy laws apply to AI use. In Quebec, Law 25 notably requires transparency when a decision is based exclusively on automated processing of personal information, and a privacy impact assessment in certain situations. Federally, PIPEDA's principles of consent and safeguards still apply.
A one-page acceptable-use policy
A good policy fits on one page and answers five questions:
- Which tools are approved? For example, the business edition of Copilot or ChatGPT, configured by your provider.
- What information is forbidden? Passwords, personal information, trade secrets, confidential client documents.
- Who reviews? Any output going outside the organization is checked by a responsible person.
- How do we report an error or incident? One address, one person.
- Who trains employees? A short practical session beats a long document.
Where to start
Take stock of current uses (often surprising), choose one or two governed tools, adopt the policy, then train your teams. Our secure, productive AI workshop and the policy template included in the Cyberallié Shield help you do it quickly.