AI Governance

From Policy to Practice: What an AI Governance Program Actually Looks Like

An intake process for new AI tools

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Before a team adopts a new AI tool — whether it's a paid subscription or a free browser extension — there needs to be a lightweight review step: what data does it touch, where does that data go, and who approved it.

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A tiered risk framework

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so not every use case gets the same level of scrutiny. Low-risk internal productivity use can move quickly. Anything touching customer data, financial decisions, or regulated information gets a deeper review.

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Technical enforcement, not just guidance

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Data loss prevention rules, browser extension restrictions, and conditional access policies do the enforcement work that a written policy can't do on its own.

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A standing review cadence.

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AI capabilities and vendor features change monthly. A governance program that's reviewed annually is already behind. Quarterly review of active tools, new requests, and incident logs keeps the program current.

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Clear escalation paths.

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When someone isn't sure whether a use case is acceptable, there needs to be an obvious person or process to ask — not ambiguity that gets resolved after the fact.

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A working AI governance program is less about restriction and more about giving the organization confidence to adopt AI tools deliberately, rather than either blocking everything or allowing everything by default. That confidence — not the policy document — is the actual deliverable.

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