AI-assisted systems may generate drafts, classifications, summaries, suggestions, or actions. They should be governed as decision-support tools, with clear data limits and human responsibility.
Scope note: This is a vendor-neutral governance checklist. It does not claim that any product offers AI settings, prompts, automation, dispatch, permissions, audit logs, integrations, recommendations, performance, or outcomes.
Define the narrow use case
Write the approved purpose, expected inputs, prohibited inputs, possible outputs, human owner, and immediate stop condition. Do not start with safety, emergency, legal, financial, employment, privacy, health, access, or customer-impacting decisions.
Treat outputs as drafts
An AI output may be incomplete, inaccurate, stale, biased, or unsuitable for the context. A suggestion, classification, summary, priority, or draft is not an approved communication, dispatch decision, customer commitment, price, authorization, completed work, payment, or collected cash.
Require human review before a result is used externally or changes a material record.
Set a strict data boundary
Use only the minimum necessary and authorized data. Do not put production names, contact details, addresses, locations, payment data, personnel data, credentials, tokens, account IDs, internal links, screenshots, logs, recordings, or documents into public examples or unapproved prompts.
Review data permissions, retention, incident handling, vendor terms, and revocation before connecting any system to business data.
Test with fully synthetic scenarios
| Situation | Expected control |
|---|---|
| Clear low-risk request | Reviewable draft or suggestion |
| Missing or conflicting information | Pause for clarification |
| Sensitive or urgent request | Documented human escalation |
| Incorrect or harmful output | Stop, record, and correct |
| Unauthorized data or access | Restrict, revoke, and review |
Keep human accountability
Document who reviews outputs, what evidence is checked, what can be changed, and how a mistake is corrected. A log, status, or system message is not proof that the real-world outcome occurred.
Review regularly
Set a review date for authorization, data minimization, output quality, access, escalation, and incidents. If the process is unclear, unauthorized, inaccurate, or irreversible, pause it until the qualified owner resolves it.
Discussion
Which decision in your team should always remain human-owned even if an AI tool can prepare a draft?