Guides · Updated October 4, 2026
Do I need an AI policy for my employees?
The short answer
Yes, if anyone at your company uses AI tools for work, and at many Canadian companies someone already does. Without a written policy, each employee decides alone what is safe to put into those tools, and the business carries the result. A short policy that names the approved tools, the information that stays out of them and the work that needs a second look closes most of the gap.
Your employees may already be using it
Statistics Canada found that 22% of Canadian workers used generative AI in their main job or business in the previous 12 months, and that the share rose from 17% to 30% between September 2024 and July 2025.
Most of that use does not start with a company decision. It starts with one person on a free account who found it saves an hour, and it spreads from there. Employees who are unsure whether it is allowed tend not to mention it.
What goes wrong without one
The risks are ordinary ones, and some have already reached Canadian courts and tribunals.
- Customer or employee information pasted into a consumer tool whose terms let the provider keep it or train on it.
- AI-written work sent out unchecked. In Zhang v. Chen (2024), a British Columbia court held a lawyer personally liable for costs after she cited two cases ChatGPT had invented.
- A customer relying on what an AI tool told them. In Moffatt v. Air Canada (2024), the airline had to pay a customer its chatbot had misinformed about a fare.
- AI used to screen job applicants without the notice Ontario now requires in job postings, or with results that fall harder on a group protected by human rights law.
What a policy changes
A policy turns hundreds of private judgment calls into a few company decisions that everyone can follow and managers can enforce the same way.
- Which tools are approved, on which accounts, and how to ask for a new one.
- Which kinds of information may go into which tools.
- Which work a person must check before it reaches a customer.
- Whether AI may be used in hiring, promotion or discipline, and on what terms.
- Who owns the policy and when it is next reviewed.
How long it needs to be
Two to four pages in plain language is enough for most companies this size. A policy nobody reads protects nobody, so short and specific beats long and general. Each employee should sign that they have read it, and the signatures should be kept with the version they signed.
Sources
This guide is general information for employers in Canada, not legal advice. Standard Practice is not a law firm. Laws change and depend on the province where your employees work; take advice from an employment lawyer on your own situation.