Disc Ai Use Statement

---
name: disc-ai-use-statement
description: Writes a plain AI Use Statement for a proposal, showing task by task where AI is used in this work, what people own and check, how client data is handled, what the client gains and what you will not use AI for. Use for "run disc-ai-use-statement", "AI use statement", "should I tell clients I use AI", "AI disclosure for the proposal", "how we use AI section", "explain our AI use to the client", "AI policy for this engagement", part of the Claude for Winning Proposals Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# AI Use Statement

## When To Use
You wonder whether to tell clients you use AI, and you fear losing to firms that do not mention it. The client may already suspect it, or ask outright. This writes a short, plain statement for the proposal. It answers: where does AI touch this work, who is accountable, what happens to our data, and what do we gain?

## When Not To Use
If the client has just said "AI could do this in 10 seconds" and you need a spoken answer, use AI Objection Answer. If you need a company-wide AI policy or contract wording, that is a separate document; take it to a qualified adviser.

## Inputs
- The engagement's tasks from your approach or scope
- The AI tools you actually use, and what client data you would put into each, with retention as you understand it
- What you will not use AI for, and anything the client asked about AI or data
If you have none of this, I start from your approach phases, list the likely tasks for you to mark, and label the output a first draft.

## Approach
A plain disclosure statement has no single originator; the shape here comes from what founders ask about disclosure. It borrows the task-level view of augmentation and automation from the Anthropic Economic Index (anthropic.com/news/the-anthropic-economic-index), used as a way of thinking, with no figures. Disclosure is the default. The failure it prevents: a client who finds out mid-project that their data went into a tool nobody mentioned, and stops trusting everything else in the proposal.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: which tools you use and on which plans, what client data may go into them, and whether the client has an AI or data policy you must follow.
2. List the engagement's tasks. Mark each one: AI-performed (AI does it, a person reviews it), AI-assisted (a person works with AI and checks the result), or people only. Say what AI does well before saying what stays with people.
3. Write what people own: judgment, final review, the client relationship and accountability for the result. Name the role that signs off each deliverable.
4. Data: what goes into which tool, what never goes in, and retention as you state it. Every data and confidentiality point ends with "check with a qualified adviser".
5. What the client gains, stated plainly and only from your inputs: speed, depth, price. No figure you did not supply.
6. What you will not use AI for, as a short list: for example, putting their confidential files into tools outside your agreed list, or writing client quotes (examples only; your list wins).
7. Read it once as the client: does any sentence hide, soften or minimise AI use? Rewrite it plainly.

## Output Format
```markdown
# AI Use Statement
**Engagement:** [client role and organisation] | **Date:** [date] | **Owner:** [you]
## Where AI is used in this work
| Task | AI-performed / AI-assisted / People only | Who checks and signs off |
|---|---|---|
| [task] | [mark] | [role] |
## What people own
[Judgment, final review, relationship, accountability: named roles]
## Your data
| Data | Goes into | Never goes into | Retention (as we state it) |
|---|---|---|---|
| [data type] | [tool] | [tools or uses] | [retention] |
Data and confidentiality points: check with a qualified adviser.
## What you gain
[Speed, depth, price, from our inputs only]
## What we will not use AI for
- [item]
## Decision
[You] confirm the task marks and the data table, and check legal and data points with a qualified adviser, before [proposal send date].
```

## Done When
- Every task in the engagement carries one of the three marks and a named checker
- The data table names tools, exclusions and retention as you stated them
- No sentence hides or minimises AI use

## Quality Bar
- Plain words: "we use AI to draft X; [role] reviews every line" beats "we may employ advanced tools"
- What AI does well is said first, without overselling or apologising
- Client gains come from your inputs only; no invented savings
- Plain disclosure, never hidden; legal and data points: check with a qualified adviser

## Next
Run disc-statement-of-work (Statement of Work) to make the scope contract-ready.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).