Writing an AI use policy for a small service business

A small business AI use policy fits on one page and answers six questions: what the AI may answer, what it must hand to a person, who supervises it, how customers are told they are talking to an assistant, what customer data it can see, and what happens when it gets something wrong. Writing it takes an hour and makes every later decision faster.

Why a small business needs one

Not for a regulator. For your team. The front desk needs to know what the AI handles so they do not duplicate it. The owner needs to know who is accountable when it says something wrong. And a new hire needs to learn it in five minutes.

A one-page template

1. Purpose. "Our AI assistant answers routine customer questions by text and web chat from the facts we approve, so our team can focus on customers in front of them."

2. What it may answer. "Services, prices from our price list, hours, locations, policies, and how to book. Only from facts and FAQs approved by [role]."

3. What it must hand off. "Anything medical, legal or financial; complaints; emergencies; anything about another customer; any price that depends on seeing the job; anyone who asks for a person. These go to [role] immediately."

4. Supervision. "For the first two weeks, every reply is approved by [name] before it sends. After that, [name] reads twenty conversations a week and reviews the unanswered questions log monthly."

5. Disclosure. "The assistant introduces itself as our assistant. If asked whether it is a person, it says no and offers one."

6. Data. "It sees only the customer it is talking to. Customers are never asked for card numbers, Social Security numbers or medical details by text."

7. Mistakes. "If it says something wrong, [role] corrects it with the customer the same day and fixes the fact it used. Serious mistakes are reported to [owner] and to our vendor."

8. Owner. "[Name] owns this policy and reviews it every six months."

Keep it true

A policy that describes controls you do not have is worse than none. If your tool cannot restrict answers to approved facts, do not write that it does; choose a tool that can, or supervise every reply.

Frequently asked questions

Do customers need to see this?

No, but the disclosure in item 5 should be visible in every conversation.

Does this replace legal advice?

No. If you are in a regulated profession, have counsel review items 3, 5 and 6.

How often should it change?

When you change tools, add a channel, or find a new kind of question the AI should not answer.

What Frontiva does here

Frontiva's AI agents are set up to match this template: answers only from approved facts and FAQs, escalation keywords and a sensitive-topic guardrail for item 3, approval or autonomous mode per agent for item 4, and a personality and rules you write in plain language for item 5. See approval mode for the supervised start.