An AI Policy Template Startups Can Actually Use

Most AI policies are theater — long enough to look serious, vague enough to mean nothing. A useful policy is short, specific, and enforceable. Here's the template.

An AI policy that nobody reads or enforces is worse than no policy — it creates the appearance of governance without the substance. The template below is the minimum a startup needs to actually govern its AI use.

A policy is a law of conduct — and a law that can't be enforced isn't a law. The policy has to name what's allowed, what's not, who's responsible, and what happens when it's violated. Vague principles don't govern; specific rules do.

• What's allowed, in plain language.
• What's not allowed, with reasons.
• Who owns the policy and the violations.
• What happens when the policy is violated.

• **Scope.** Which AI tools and uses the policy covers.
• **Allowed uses.** The cases that don't need review.
• **Restricted uses.** The cases that need review, and by whom.
• **Prohibited uses.** The cases that are never allowed.
• **Data handling.** What may and may not go into AI tools.
• **Ownership.** Who owns the policy, the review process, and the violations.
• **Review cadence.** When the policy is revisited.

A one-page policy that's read and enforced beats a twenty-page policy that isn't. The process discipline is to keep the policy short enough that every new hire reads it on day one — and specific enough that a violation is unambiguous.

• A policy longer than a page that nobody reads.
• Principles without rules ("we use AI responsibly" is not a policy).
• A policy with no owner.
• A policy that's never reviewed.

A useful AI policy is short, specific, and enforceable — scope, allowed, restricted, prohibited, data handling, ownership, cadence. The policy that's read and enforced governs; the policy that isn't is theater.