5 Top Tips to Develop Your Business’s AI Usage Policy
By Jody Bailey, Chief Product & Technology Officer, Stack Overflow
Generative AI (GenAI) tools have the potential to streamline operational processes, enhance productivity, and drive innovation and creativity within your organisation. To not utilise the game-changing technology would be foolish at best, and at worst, hinder the future success of your business.
But does your organisation have clear policies or best-use guidance in place when it comes to using generative AI tools for work? The reality is that your colleagues have at the very least experimented with AI tools and are likely to be using them for work on a regular basis with 76% of developers saying they already use or plan to use AI tools this year. So where do you begin when setting guardrails for working with AI?
Here are the top 5 considerations in developing your business’s GenAI usage policy:
- Get different areas of the business involved:
Stakeholders from departments such as IT, legal, compliance, HR and marketing will all use GenAI tools for different tasks and ultimately will have varying expectations for what it might do. Aligning representatives from across teams in the development process will ensure all perspectives are considered to create a well-rounded policy.
The UK government has recently launched its AI and Digital Hub for businesses looking for clarity around AI’s impact on compliance and regulation. Business leaders can now query industry bodies when rolling out AI and gain a better understanding of regulatory impact of AI across new departments. Improving business leaders’ understanding of what they can and cannot do regarding AI will ensure a smooth introduction of AI tools across entire businesses.
- Explore use cases that achieve business objectives:
GenAI tools can help streamline and optimise aspects of business operations and deliver more personalised experiences for customers and clients. Identify and evaluate specific use cases in your organisation where AI can be leveraged to help deliver on your business goals. Despite the potential AI can offer businesses, recent findings reveal that just 13% of global businesses are ready to leverage AI tools to their full potential. A contributing factor to this reality may be a failure to identify specific use cases before integrating the tools. Targeting the specific areas of a business to drive greater efficiency or reduce the risk of human error will assist decision makers in implementing AI tools across their organisation.
- Define explicitly how AI can and cannot be used
Encouraging your teams to utilise AI tools will help them understand its potential and limitations, enabling them to explore how they can optimise their productivity. However, be sure to provide clear guidance to ensure sensitive data, including anything pertaining to intellectual property or NDA-protected information is not uploaded onto public platforms. Articulate the expectations, roles, and responsibilities of employees regarding AI usage through easily understandable guidelines and training materials that help facilitate compliance. Another best practice is to establish and maintain an approved set of AI tools that are used by your organisation – just as you would with any software tool, it’s imperative to monitor and ensure the appropriate security and privacy protections are in place.
In 2024, AI-specific legislation such as the EU AI Act emerged, with similar guidelines expected to be signed into UK law in 2025. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill was announced in this year’s King’s Speech and presents an opportunity for the UK government to bolster regulation and protect digital services. Furthermore, these pieces of legislation place greater emphasis on the parameters of AI usage and reduce the margin of error from a business perspective. Establishing a comprehensive understanding around AI usage is more important than ever, given the legal, financial and reputational implications which can now befall a business.
- Champion ethical and socially responsible AI:
Ensure you emphasize ethical considerations, fairness, transparency, and accountability in GenAI usage. According to Stack Overflow’s 2024 Developer Survey, only 43% of developers trust the accuracy of AI tools, and 31% remain skeptical of AI tools’ output. This lack of trust underpins the need for trusted and responsible AI tools at work. It may also be worth considering developing guidelines for data privacy, bias mitigation, and ethical decision-making to ensure responsible and equitable use of AI.
- Review regularly, adapt accordingly:
Establishing clear guidelines on AI use in your organisation isn’t a ‘set it and forget it’ task. GenAI technologies are evolving rapidly so it is crucial to establish a process to regularly review and update your AI usage policy to keep pace with advancements. Continue engaging your established committee of stakeholders to iterate on your policy.
GenAI is unequivocally revolutionising the workplace. As a result, the sooner businesses learn to embrace and incorporate its use, the more future-proofed and resilient they make themselves. By following these guidelines, you can develop a robust AI usage policy that aligns with your organisational objectives, promotes ethical AI practices, and adapts to the evolving AI and business landscape.
The post 5 Top Tips to Develop Your Business’s AI Usage Policy first appeared on HR News.
