As a small business owner, I know you are bombarded and probably baffled by the ways your operation can use AI for efficiency and effectiveness. Experts claim you should implement it in every operation of your company, but you are hesitant. I also know you probably do not have time for more technology implementation.
But we need to face reality: More than likely, your employees are already using it in the workplace.
And as your HR consultant, my question to you is: “Do you have policies and procedures for using AI in the office?”
AI systems are free (or inexpensive) and readily available to your team members. The danger is that employees may not see the harm in using AI to do their job, but they can cause quite a bit of harm to your company.
Consider this scenario
Imagine an employee starts using AI to summarize meeting notes and draft project recommendations after a client meeting. He copies a full meeting transcript into an AI tool, including the client’s name, financial information, strategic business plan, upcoming contracts, internal struggles, acquisitions, and employee concerns.
AI then generates a summary and action report that both look great and make the employee appear incredibly productive and insightful.
The problem? Several months later, the client asks about a possible data breach. Confidential information about the client’s company has been found on a third-party platform, including financials, contracts, employee grievances, and strategic plans. And the finger is pointing at your team, who was entrusted with the information.
This could easily happen to your team with a client or even with your internal documentation. And you, as leadership, have no idea how much information is uploaded because there is no policy.
To be fair, the employee did not have malicious intent. In fact, he just wanted to be thorough and efficient. But without clear guidelines around the use of AI, data breaches like this can cost your clients and your reputation.
Why is an AI policy a function of HR?
HR should be involved in the creation of the policy and then accountable for working with other teams on updates. This policy deeply impacts employees at every level of your company, outlines appropriate actions, and describes procedures for handling AI misuse.
What should a company AI policy include?
Your AI use policy needs to involve every single department, whether those employees are actively using it or not (because you never know when they will start). Remember, AI can be used to write emails, summarize reports, draft content, analyze data, and solve simple problems. Any employee can start using it at any time.
At 45 Solutions, we help your team implement the right AI policy. This includes:
- Which AI systems are acceptable to use and which are not
- What security precautions must be taken when using AI
- Who owns the AI account and output
- What information can and cannot be shared with an AI tool. We do not recommend sharing client and employee names, financial records, performance reviews, strategic plans, proprietary processes, or any secret-sauce recipes.
- What information can never be shared in AI, including patient data, confidential client information, employee information, medical information, and proprietary business data.
- A clear policy stating that AI should be an assistant, not make final decisions. AI can be used for ideas, summaries, and organizational tasks. AI should not be used to make any decisions, decide disciplinary action, create legal documents, or communicate with clients.
- To that end, an employee must verify all AI outputs. Facts, statistics, and citations need to be checked by a human.
- Establishing department-specific rules. This can include those that deal with customer information, brand and messaging, financial records, any confidential information, internal procedures, and strategic planning.
- Clear guidelines on how to communicate AI policies to team members, including what happens when rules are not followed.
AI is constantly evolving, and we are just in the early infancy stages of adoption. Your goal right now is to work with our team to establish a plan, so your team members know that you are aware and open to adopting new technology, while also putting protections in place to avoid the horror stories.
An AI use policy is NOT a technology issue. It is a significant business risk involving your employees and should be governed and monitored by HR.
We can help you and your organization put the right standards in place and then clear guidelines for following them. Get started today with a call to CEO T.J. Butler, who can guide you through the first steps in the process: https://schedule.45solutions.net/.
