SECAI Core · phase 8 of 15 · noun

AI policy

A written document that states what is allowed, what evidence is needed (to support audits), and who is authorized to make decisions related to AI use

The Explain card

Plain English
An AI policy is a written document stating what AI use is allowed, what evidence must be kept to support audits, and who is authorized to make decisions about AI.
Example
A firm's AI policy says staff may use approved assistants for drafting, must never paste client data into public models, must log every model deployment in the asset register, and that only the AI governance board can approve a new high-risk use case.
Why it matters
Without a policy, every guardrail is someone's personal preference and every incident becomes an argument. A policy gives defenders authority to enforce controls and auditors something to check against.
Hook
The rulebook that says what, with what proof, and who signs.

Word knowledge

How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.

In a sentence

On the model registry, promotion to production is held until the AI policy's risk-assessment artifact is attached to the version record.

Why these words
  • AI English initialism of artificial intelligence, from Latin artificialis and intelligentia marks which systems the standing rules apply to, so the head noun is about models and prompts rather than the whole firm
  • policy Middle French policie, civil administration, from Latin politia, from Greek politeia, citizenship or government supplies the head noun, the standing rules the phrase hangs on that domain
Where it came from
Origin
English computing compound, from the initialism AI for artificial intelligence and Middle French policie (civil administration), from Latin politia, from Greek politeia (citizenship, government)
Entered the language
2010s
What changed
Policy entered English in the late 1300s from Greek politeia, first as the running of a city, then as a chosen course of action, then as the standing rules a body writes down. AI is the initialism of McCarthy's 1955 phrase. Governance writers of the 2010s joined the pair so a model and a prompt could sit under the same kind of standing rules a company already kept for data and access.
How it is spelled
Pattern
AI is two capitals with no points
Pattern
-cy nouns from Latin -tia name a state or practice
Pattern
y after c in policy keeps /s/, never an s
Breaks the pattern
the noun phrase stays two words; a hyphen appears only when the pair modifies another noun
Breaks the pattern
older prose still writes A.I. with points, but the computing phrase drops them
Breaks the pattern
policy keeps y, not the ie of French policie

Spelled like

  • privacy
  • agency
  • accuracy
Broken into chunks
  • AI
    • AGI
    • ANI
  • poli
    • politics
    • police
    • metropolis
  • cy
    • privacy
    • agency
    • accuracy
What it sits beside

Same subject

Same shape

AI compounds

Policy compounds

  • privacy policy
  • security policy
  • acceptable use policy

Governance labels

Where it sits in the deck

Phase 8: Governance, Risk, and Compliance Frameworks

Individual controls need a governance envelope — introduce the risk and compliance structures, standards bodies, and regulations that frame AI accountability at scale.

Neighbours in this phase