Artificial intelligence is moving faster than most corporate policy processes were designed to handle.

That is especially true in financial services. Employees are already using generative AI. Vendors are putting AI into products that banks have relied on
for years. Business units are experimenting with Copilot, automated analysis, document generation and AI agents. Models are being embedded into workflows that may never have been considered “model-driven” before.

The question for management is no longer whether AI will be used. It’s how will the organization use it responsibly, understand where it is being used, and maintain appropriate control as the technology changes. That starts with a good AI policy.

A good policy should give employees clear rules without trying to predict every technology that will appear over the next five years. It should establish who is accountable, what requires approval, what is prohibited, how risk is assessed, and what evidence the organization needs to demonstrate that its controls actually work.