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Free template · .docx

AI Acceptable Use Policy template

A 27-section starter policy you can tailor and put in front of your team this week. Plain English, no marketing list, no follow-up sequence.

309 KB · Word .docx · Editable · UK English

AI Acceptable Use Policy
27 sections · v1.0 · .docx
1. Our approach to AI
2. Personal responsibility
3. Key definitions
4. Scope of policy
5. Authorised software
+ 22 more sections
Why we put this together

Most UK SMBs have no AI policy. The wrong people will write it for you.

Most owners we speak to do not have a written AI policy. The team is using ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot anyway, sometimes paid for on a corporate card, sometimes on free personal accounts. Without a policy, the boundaries are whatever the most junior employee decides on a Wednesday morning.

This template is a starter. It covers the 27 questions a good AI policy needs to answer, written in plain English, in a Word document you can tailor for your business in an afternoon. Drop your company name in, pick the tools you want to authorise, and put it in front of the team.

It is not a finished legal document. We are not lawyers. If you operate under SRA, FCA, ICAEW or similar regulation, your compliance lead should review it before you sign anything off.

What is in it

The 27 sections, at a glance

1. Our approach to AI
2. Personal responsibility
3. Key definitions
4. Scope of policy
5. Authorised and prohibited software
6. Requesting new tools
7. Data classification protocol
8. Regional and industry specific regulations
9. Client contract requirements
10. Meeting recorders and extensions
11. Monitoring and privacy
12. AI hallucinations and output verification
13. Intellectual property and copyright
14. Automation workflows
15. Voice cloning and deepfakes
16. Financial verification
17. AI-assisted decisions
18. Transparency and AI-assisted generation
19. Mobile and personal device usage (BYOD)
20. AI training requirements
21. Vendor and contractor compliance
22. Termination and data retention
23. Ethics and prohibited content
24. Security integrity (jailbreaking)
25. Incident reporting
26. Policy review and updates
27. Policy enforcement and acknowledgment

Plus Appendix A, a starter list of authorised AI software you can tick or strike through.

Download the template

Ready when you are

Word document, plain English, no email required. If you would rather have us tailor it for you (or have a quick natter on whether you need one at all), we are happy to help.

Download the template (.docx)

Want help shaping it for your business?

A 30-minute natter with Andy: we will help you pick which sections matter for your sector, what to authorise and what to ban, and how to roll it out without scaring the team.

Book a natter →