Don't Leave AI to Luck: A One-Page AI Policy for Small Teams
Most small businesses use AI, but few have a policy for it. Here's how to write a one-page AI policy your team will actually read, no binder required.
Happy Friday the 13th. Whether or not you avoid ladders today, there's one place luck shouldn't be part of the plan: how your team uses AI.
Gusto's State of Small Business 2026 survey found that 67% of small businesses are now actively using AI. Policies haven't kept up. Only 25% of businesses with employees have any kind of AI policy, up from 15% last year. Another 28% are considering one, and 47% say they have no policy and no plans to create one.
Without a policy, AI use runs on hope. You hope nobody pastes a customer list into a personal chatbot. You hope the subscriptions don't pile up. You hope that if something goes wrong, you'll be able to figure out what happened.
The good news: you don't need a binder. One page is enough to start.
What goes on the page
1. Approved tools List the AI tools people can use for work, and how to get access. Make the approved option the easy option, or people will drift back to whatever they already have on their phone.
2. What never goes into AI Keep it short and specific. For most small businesses that means things like customer payment details, full customer lists, contract terms, passwords and employee personal information. Three to five lines people will remember beats a long list nobody reads.
3. Who to ask Name one person people can go to with "Is this OK to paste in?" questions. A quick answer prevents a lot of guessing.
4. How spending works Decide who can sign up for paid AI tools and set a simple budget per team. Costs that live on scattered cards are hard to see until the statement arrives.
5. How you'll keep track Write down how you'll see which tools are being used and what they cost. You don't need to read anyone's messages to do this. You just need a record.
6. When you'll review it AI tools change quickly. Put a date on the calendar to revisit the page every six months.
For owners
A one-page policy gives you a shared starting point. It sets expectations, makes onboarding easier, and gives you something concrete to point to when a customer or partner asks how your team handles AI.
For everyday employees
A policy isn't there to slow you down. It answers the questions you'd otherwise have to guess at, so you can use AI openly, share what works with teammates and stop second-guessing every file. If your team doesn't have one yet, it's a fair question to raise: "Can we write down which AI tools we use and what stays out of them?"
Where Kairos fits
A policy is the plan. Kairos helps it hold up day to day. Kairos sits between your people and the AI models they use. Each request is checked for sensitive data before it reaches a model, based on the detection rules you configure. Spend stays inside the per-team budgets you set. And you get a record of what went where, without storing message content by default.
Your one-page AI policy checklist
- List the AI tools your team can use for work.
- Write three to five things that never go into AI tools.
- Name one person to ask when someone isn't sure.
- Decide who can buy AI tools and set a budget for each team.
- Make sure you can see which tools are used and what they cost.
- Put a review date on the calendar six months out.
No black cats, broken mirrors or crossed fingers required. Start at kairos-ctx.ai.