Your team is using AI.
Time for a policy.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AI policy?

An Artificial Intelligence policy sets the rules for how your employees may use AI tools: which tools are approved, what data may and may not be entered, when a person must review AI output, and how you monitor and enforce compliance. It usually pairs an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) with Data Handling Guidelines and a short governance overview.

Why does my company need an AI policy?

While 90% of companies are using AI in some capacity, only 38% of US companies have implemented a structured AI governance policy, according to Thomson Reuters. Investors are treating AI governance as a critical factor, as AI-related risk disclosure among S&P 500 companies is rising, according to the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. Search traffic on the phrase "AI policy" has risen 850% over the past year, according to Google Trends (as of July 15, 2026), and yet most companies still see only pockets of experimentation. Generative AI is the most rapidly adopted general-purpose technology in history, faster than the personal computer or the internet. It is transforming the economy and organizations, and must be reflected in governance policies.

What is the difference between an AI policy and AI governance?

AI governance is the broader structure of roles, decisions, and oversight for adopting AI responsibly. An AI policy is the written document that turns that governance into day-to-day rules. PolicyStarter produces both to kickstart your organization's governance approach.

How is this different from writing an AI policy myself in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini?

You can open a general AI tool and ask it to write an AI policy, and it will produce something. The difference is everything that sits between a blank prompt and a policy you can actually adopt. Behind the questionnaire are tailored prompts, document templates, and legal and privacy checklists refined specifically for AI governance, so your draft reflects the frameworks that bind your business, the AI tools you actually use, and the real decisions a policy has to make, rather than generic boilerplate. Every generation runs through quality and completeness checks so the documents hold together as a set and nothing important is left out. We use current, US-based frontier AI models, and because the work is tightly scoped, the cost is fixed and known from the start: the Governance Overview is free and the full pack is a one-time, low fixed fee, with no metered usage or surprise bill. You are also not locked in. Every document arrives as an editable Microsoft Word file that you own and can refine further on your own, with your team, or with your own AI tools, so the final policy fits your organization exactly.

What is a cross-functional AI council, and do we need one?

A cross-functional AI council, sometimes called an AI governance committee, is a small standing group that owns AI decisions across the organization instead of leaving them to one person or one department. It usually brings together leadership, IT or security, legal or compliance, human resources, and someone from the teams that use AI day to day. Its job is to approve which AI tools are allowed, decide what data may be used with them, review new use cases and risks, and revisit the policy as tools and regulations change. At a small business, a group of two or three people is enough. The council is what keeps an AI policy a living practice rather than a document that is written once and set aside. Most organizations have not set one up yet: in SmarterX's 2026 State of AI for Business Report, which surveyed 2,100 AI-forward professionals, only 39% said their company has an AI council or committee. PolicyStarter supports this directly: the free Governance Overview names the roles that own each decision, and the Leadership Discussion Guide in the full pack gives that group a ready-made agenda of the questions to work through together.

How do I keep my AI policy current as my business changes?

Treat your AI policy as a living practice, not a document you write once and set aside. As your business changes, come back and run through the questionnaire again to produce a fresh draft. Moments worth a revisit include hiring your first employees or a new team, adopting a new AI tool, entering a new market or handling a new type of regulated data, and any change in the AI regulations that apply to you. When you regenerate, you can upload your current policy as a reference document so the new draft takes your existing decisions and language into account. Revisiting on a regular schedule is a simple way to keep your policy current, test the thinking and assumptions behind it, and keep the governance conversation going as your use of AI grows.

Why does my business need an AI policy?

Employees are already using AI tools, often without formal approval. A written policy sets clear expectations, protects customer and employee data, supports AI risk management, maintains regulatory compliance, provides a foundation for employee training, and gives leadership a defensible record of responsible AI decisions.

Can an AI policy help us attract and retain talent?

Increasingly, yes. Candidates and employees pay attention to how a prospective employer approaches AI, both whether they will have modern AI tools to do their best work and whether the company handles data and AI responsibly. A clear AI policy answers both at once: it shows which tools your teams can use and the guardrails that protect customer and employee data. Setting the right level of security and access signals that your company is capable and trustworthy, which helps you compete for top talent and retain the employees you most want to keep.

Is my information used to train AI models?

No. We use AI to draft your documents, and we chose our AI provider specifically because it does not use the information sent through its service to train its models. We send only what is needed to tailor your documents, such as your industry, tools, and operating regions, and we do not send personal contact details such as your name or email address to the AI. Payment details are handled by our credit card merchant provider, are not shared with any AI provider, and are not stored by PolicyStarter. Your finished documents are assembled in your browser and are not stored on our servers. You can read more in our Privacy Policy and Terms.

Is PolicyStarter free?

The customized AI Governance Overview is free. The full editable pack, which adds an Acceptable Use Policy, Data Handling Guidelines, a Leadership Discussion Guide, an Employee Quick Reference Guide, and an AI prompt to help enforce your policy, is a one-time charge of $49. It also includes 30 days of access to the site, where you can explore variations of your policies and priorities with unlimited report generations. That is useful for teams that operate across a large region or globally, or that have different lines of business subject to different sensitivities.

What documents are included in the AI policy pack?

The free tier is a customized AI Governance Overview, an executive summary of your AI governance structure, tool decisions, and 30-day action items. The full AI policy pack adds six more editable documents, each tailored to your business, industry, and the privacy laws where you operate:

• AI Acceptable Use Policy (AUP): the enforceable rules for how employees may use AI tools, which tools are approved, what data may be entered, and when a person must review AI output.
• Data Handling Guidelines: a plain-language data classification framework so staff know what information can and cannot go into AI tools.
• Leadership Discussion Guide: a ready-made agenda that walks your leadership team through the AI governance decisions to resolve before the policy takes effect.
• Employee Quick Reference Guide: a one-page, plain-English summary of the AI rules that staff will actually read and remember.
• Client AI Disclosure: client-facing language you can add to client agreements and your website, explaining in plain terms how your use of AI touches client information, conversations, and data.
• AI system-prompt file: guardrail instructions you can add to your AI tools to help enforce your policy day to day.

Every document is an editable Microsoft Word draft, ready to review with your legal, security, and leadership teams before you adopt it.

Are the documents legal advice?

No. The documents are drafts and a starting point for further discussion and review. Read, debate, and finalize them with your own legal counsel familiar with your industry, business, and regional regulations, along with your IT security team and leadership, before adopting them within your organization.

Does the policy reflect my state's privacy laws?

Yes, to our best effort. The draft applies the privacy frameworks that actually bind your business based on where you operate, such as the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, the California CCPA and CPRA for qualifying businesses, and the GDPR for EU operations, rather than one generic standard. We still encourage further review by legal counsel familiar with your operating jurisdiction.

What file formats are these policies written in?

You can download editable Microsoft Word files that you own, plus the option to open them in Google Docs. Documents are assembled in your browser and are not stored on our servers. They are fully editable in your environment and can be stored securely in your own file repositories for editing and reference.