Your employees are already using AI. Here is a clear, step-by-step process to let them do it safely, without putting company data, clients, or your reputation at risk.
First, what is AI?
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is software that can do tasks that used to need a person. Tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Claude can write an email, summarize a long report, answer questions, draft a proposal, or help write computer code, all from a simple typed request.
These tools are trained on large amounts of data to recognize patterns and generate responses that can sound natural and confident. That is where the value is, and also where the risk is. AI can save your employees hours every week. Depending on the product, account type, settings, and provider's terms, information submitted to an AI service may be retained, reviewed, or used to improve models.
Why managing AI matters
Your employees may already be using AI, whether or not your company has formally approved it. Most do it for good reasons: they want to work faster. The problem is what they share while doing it. A salesperson pastes a client contract into a free chatbot to get a summary. An HR manager uploads employee records to draft a report. A developer copies proprietary code into a public tool to fix a bug. None of these people mean any harm, but each one may have just sent sensitive company data outside your control.
AI also introduces new threats. Criminals now use it to write convincing phishing emails and to clone voices and faces for fraud. And AI answers can be wrong, so decisions based on unchecked AI output can lead to costly errors.
Banning AI outright rarely works. People find workarounds, and your company falls behind competitors who use it well. The better approach is to manage it: let people use AI, with clear rules and the right safeguards.
A 10-step process for safe AI use
1. Assign ownership
AI touches security, legal, HR, and operations, so no single department should manage it alone. Form a small oversight group with representatives from each of these areas and name one executive as the owner. Consider using a recognized framework such as the NIST AI Risk Management Framework to provide a structured foundation for your program and demonstrate that AI risks are being managed systematically.
2. Find out what is already in use
You can't manage what you can't see. Use your existing security tools, such as web filtering, network logs, and cloud access monitoring, to find which AI tools employees are using. Also check expense reports for AI subscriptions, and review the software you already own. Many vendors have added AI capabilities to existing products, and some features may be enabled by default or become available through existing licenses.
3. Write a clear AI acceptable use policy
Keep the policy short and practical. It should state:
- Which AI tools are approved, and which are not allowed.
- What information employees may not enter into consumer AI services, and what information may only be entered into specifically approved enterprise AI services.
- That a person must review AI-generated content before it is used for decisions or sent to customers.
- What happens if the policy is violated.
Have every employee read and acknowledge it, the same way they do for your other security policies.
4. Connect AI rules to your data classification
If your company already labels data as Public, Internal, or Confidential, extend those classifications to AI use. Public information generally presents the fewest concerns. Internal information should only be entered into approved AI services with appropriate security, privacy, retention, and contractual protections. Confidential, personal, financial, regulated, or otherwise sensitive information should require additional approval and controls, and some categories may need to remain prohibited.
5. Give employees approved tools
If you block free AI tools without offering an alternative, employees will use personal accounts on their phones, where you have no visibility at all. Purchase business versions of AI tools that provide appropriate identity controls, logging, administrative controls, and contractual commitments governing how your data is collected, retained, accessed, and used. Then restrict access to the free consumer versions.
6. Put technical safeguards in place
Policy sets the rules. Technology enforces them. Key controls include:
- Access control. Require company login with multi-factor authentication for all approved AI tools.
- Data loss prevention. Configure your security tools to detect and block sensitive information being pasted or uploaded into AI sites.
- Permission cleanup. Before rolling out tools like Microsoft Copilot, review who has access to which files. These tools can make information that a user already has permission to access significantly easier to discover, so improperly shared or overshared folders can become a much greater practical risk.
- Monitoring. Send AI activity logs to your security monitoring systems.
7. Review your vendors' use of AI
Add AI questions to your vendor review process. Ask each vendor whether your data is used to train their AI, where it is stored, how long it is kept, and which other companies process it. Revisit existing contracts, since many vendors have added AI features after the agreement was signed.
8. Secure any AI your company builds
If your team builds its own AI tools, chatbots, or automated assistants, treat them like any other business application: secure design, testing, and least-privilege access. Pay special attention to AI tools that can take actions on their own, such as sending emails or changing records. Those should require appropriate human oversight and approval before performing high-impact, irreversible, financial, security, personnel, or customer-facing actions.
9. Train your people
Every employee should understand three things: what information not to share with AI, that AI answers can be confidently wrong, and that AI-powered scams are real. That last point is important. Criminals can now imitate a CEO's voice on a phone call or appear on a video call. Set a firm rule that any request for payment, gift cards, or credentials must be verified through a separate, known channel, no matter how convincing the request seems.
10. Monitor, respond, and revisit
Update your incident response plans to include AI scenarios, such as an employee sharing confidential data with a chatbot or an AI tool producing harmful content sent to a customer. Review your list of approved tools every quarter, and keep an eye on new regulations, which are changing quickly at both the state and international level.
Where to start
If this list feels like a lot, start with four steps: find out what's in use, publish a clear policy, provide an approved business tool while restricting free versions, and put data loss protection in place. Those steps address several of the most common risks organizations face when employees begin using AI and provide a practical foundation for building a broader AI governance program.
The companies that put guardrails in place now will get the most out of AI.
The ones that wait will be cleaning up after it.
In conclusion
AI is a powerful business tool. Used carelessly, it becomes a new path for data loss and fraud. Used with clear rules and the right controls, it gives your employees the productivity benefits without the risk.
Not sure where your organization stands with AI? Reach out and we'll help you build a practical AI governance program that fits the way your business works.
W. Scott Montgomery is Director of Security at Digital Elevation.