Writing an AI acceptable use policy
By Sam Rivera, Founder, SentinelPanda · June 19, 2026 · 1 min read · AI Governance
Your team is already pasting things into AI tools. An AI acceptable use policy is how you make sure customer data and secrets are not among them.
Why you need one now
AI tools are already in your workplace — staff use assistants to write, code, and analyse. Without guidance, the predictable result is customer data, source code, or secrets pasted into third-party services that may retain or train on them. An AI acceptable use policy sets the guardrails before that becomes an incident.
What it must cover
- Which AI tools are approved, and the process to request new ones.
- What data may be entered — and explicitly what may not (customer PII/PHI, secrets, confidential or regulated data).
- Requirements like reviewing AI output before use, and not relying on it for regulated decisions without oversight.
The data question is central
The heart of the policy is data: classify what can go into which tools. An approved enterprise AI with a no-training agreement is very different from a free consumer tool. Tie the rules to your data classification scheme so "confidential" means the same thing here as everywhere.
Pair policy with a sanctioned path
A policy that only says "no" drives shadow AI. Provide approved tools and a fast way to request more, so people have a legitimate option. SentinelPanda tracks the AI policy, acknowledgements, and the approved-tool inventory together.