The Rochester Business Journal, in a special section focusing on Artificial Intelligence, extensively quoted Harris Beach Murtha Special Counsel Timothy J. Plunkett about the need for AI policies in workplace governance.

Tim, a member of the firm’s Artificial Intelligence Industry Team, told the publication the legal stakes around AI policies have shifted quickly as adoption accelerates.

“From a legal perspective, having these kinds of policies in place, it’s no longer a nice-to-have; it’s now a baseline risk management requirement,” he said.

Most organizations are still behind when it comes to formal policies, Tim said, creating a growing gap between use and governance.

“What we see consistently shows a significant gap in governance between how fast AI is being adopted and how slowly organizations are putting guardrails around it,” Plunkett told the RBJ, adding that formal policies remain the exception and not the rule.

For organizations that have yet to act, Plunkett emphasized getting started does not need to be overly complex, but it does need to be intentional, with a focus on creating structure without limiting innovation.

“The goal is to not stop innovation, but to define safe, lawful, transparent uses,” he said, adding that policies should address core areas of acceptable use, including human accountability, risk assessment, data protection and transparency, as well as confidentiality and vendor risk controls.

To learn more about what Tim said, read the full RBJ article.