Employees may already be using AI to draft messages, summarize files, or answer questions. The fastest way to reduce data risk is to find out what is happening now, set clear boundaries, and give the team an approved path forward. This seven-day starter plan turns safe AI adoption into specific actions a business can take this week.
Day 1: Identify Current AI Use
Ask employees which AI tools they already use for work, what tasks they use them for, and what information they enter or upload. Include personal accounts and browser extensions in the inventory. Record the tool, user, purpose, and data involved so you can address real workflows instead of writing a policy in the dark.
Day 2: Temporarily Define Prohibited Data
Send an interim rule while approved tools and use cases are reviewed: do not enter customer records, contracts, passwords, financial information, employee data, or proprietary documents into unapproved AI tools. Tell employees whom to contact if they are unsure or have already shared something sensitive.
Day 3: Select Approved Platforms
Evaluate business versions of Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, or another platform against the needs of your organization. Check how each service handles data retention, whether prompts and files may be used for model training, how identities and permissions are managed, and what auditing is available. Confirm that the terms fit your customer commitments and applicable requirements before approving a tool.
Day 4: Configure Accounts Securely
Use company-managed accounts, require multifactor authentication, enable single sign-on where available, and give each employee an individual login. Never share credentials. Grant access only to the people and company data needed for the approved use case, then review those permissions regularly.
Day 5: Create a One-Page AI Policy
Write a short policy employees can use during a normal workday. Name the approved tools, prohibited information, acceptable uses, outputs that require human review, and the person or process for reporting mistakes. Make it clear who approves new AI use cases.
Day 6: Choose One Low-Risk Pilot
Start with one workflow that can be tested without confidential data. Options include summarizing public documents, drafting internal announcements, organizing meeting notes that contain no sensitive information, or searching approved procedures. Assign an owner, define the expected benefit, and require a person to review every output before it is used.
Day 7: Set the 30-Day Review
Schedule a review for 30 days after the pilot begins. Measure time saved and turnaround time, check how employees are actually using the tool, review access and any mistakes, and decide whether to adjust, expand, or stop the pilot. Keep the approval limited until that review is complete.
Copyable Starter AI Policy
Use this language as a starting point and adapt it to your tools, data, and customer obligations:
Employees may use company-approved AI tools for authorized business purposes. Customer information, employee records, credentials, financial data, contracts, and other confidential information may not be entered into an AI service unless that specific use has been approved. AI-generated output must be reviewed by an employee before it is published, sent to a customer, or used to make a business decision.
Put the Plan Into Practice
Need help reviewing your current AI use, selecting approved tools, or configuring them securely? Protective Data Solutions can conduct an AI readiness and data-risk assessment for your business.