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AI acceptable use and data handling policy

Your staff are already using AI tools, including tools switched on inside products you already license. A policy that bans them can drive unmanaged use into personal accounts where nobody can see it, and a policy nobody can follow is worse than none. This template takes the position that these tools will be used, and draws the line in two places that actually matter: what information is allowed to leave your business, and what an AI system is allowed to do on your behalf. It comes with a two-page staff quick guide, because the version written to be quoted to a regulator is not the version anyone reads at their desk.

Editable policy template · 18 pages. Free.

WHO THIS IS FOR
  • Businesses where AI use has started without anyone deciding it should
  • Anyone who needs a defensible written position before a client or insurer asks
  • Managers who want to permit AI use without permitting a data breach
// READ IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT

The clause that does the real work

A real page from the document. The black bars mark detail removed for publication, or space left for you to fill in.

WHAT IS INSIDE
Four information categories What may be pasted into an approved tool, what may never be, and a five-second decision staff can make at their desk
Approved tools Six questions to add one without convening a committee, plus the eight vendor changes that undo an approval
Client, patient and other regulated information Nine conditions, all of which have to be met and recorded. Written to be quotable to a client, an insurer or a regulator
Connected AI, agents and automated actions What the tool is allowed to do, not just what goes in. Follows the Australian Signals Directorate guidance on agentic AI published in May 2026
Human review, ownership and provenance Which outputs a person must check, who owns what came out, and what the vendor terms actually permit
Automated decision transparency The disclosure obligation under Australian Privacy Principles 1.7 to 1.9, which commences 10 December 2026
Disclosure and reporting a mistake When AI involvement has to be declared, and a no-fault reporting clause, because concealment is the expensive outcome
A two-page staff quick guide Sent alongside the policy. The desk version, printable and pinnable, with the same four categories on one page
Ferres Systems AI Acceptable Use Policy
SAMPLE
SECTION 03 // INFORMATION TIERS
ORGANISATION Your business name goes here

Information is sorted into four categories. The category decides which tools it may be entered into, and it applies to anything you type, paste, upload or connect.

NEVER CRITICAL

Credentials and access material of any kind

No AI tool, ever. Section 5 approval does not create an exception to this row. If any of it is entered by mistake, treat the credential as compromised and rotate it immediately. Deletion by the vendor is not a substitute for rotation.

  • Passwords, passphrases and PINs
  • API keys, access tokens, session tokens, refresh tokens and connection strings
  • Private cryptographic keys, certificates with private keys, and signing keys
  • Multi-factor recovery codes and break-glass account credentials
TIER 3 / RESTRICTED, NOT PROHIBITED

Regulated and sensitive information, including personal, health, financial and legal records. Permitted only where every one of the nine conditions in section 5 is met, documented and approved. De-identification is not a loophole: removing a name from a clinical note frequently leaves enough context to re-identify the person.

TIER 2 / APPROVED TOOLS ONLY

Internal business information, non-identifying operational data and draft work products. Approved tools only, on an organisation account. Not a personal account of any tool, including the free tier of an otherwise approved product.

TIER 1 / ANY APPROVED TOOL

Information already public, or internal material containing no personal information, client identifiers, credentials or commercially sensitive detail. Drafting, summarising and rewriting public documents, general research, and code that touches no live data.

THE RULE STAFF REMEMBER

If you would not paste it into an email to someone outside the organisation, do not paste it into an AI tool. That is a minimum memory aid rather than the test, because there are things we may lawfully email to a contracted party that must still never be entered into an AI service. Where the two disagree, the tiers govern.

IF IT HAPPENS ANYWAY INFO

Report it to [ROLE] the same day. There is no disciplinary consequence for reporting promptly and in good faith. The organisation can act on a disclosure it knows about and cannot act on one it does not.

Sample page. The full document continues. 1 / 8
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Send me the policy template

One email, with the document attached. We use a work address because these are written for businesses, and because it tells us which of our writing is worth doing more of.

  • The document arrives within a few minutes
  • No follow-up emails unless you tick the box
  • Never sold or shared for anyone else's marketing. Delivery providers are named in the privacy policy
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