Define the proposed use before searching for a clause
Review AI-use restrictions by identifying the proposed activity, data or service, participating entities and intended recipients, then reading the agreement family for permitted purpose, restrictions, definitions, amendments, dates and exceptions. Bring the evidence and open questions to the responsible reviewer. A keyword hit is a starting point, not the completed assessment.
Describe the workflow in practical terms: what information enters, who operates the system, what the model does and where outputs go. Avoid compressing materially different activities into a single label such as “AI use.” The questions needed for internal processing may differ from those for sharing an output externally.
Read the agreement family together
Find the master license, relevant order, schedules, amendments and exceptions for the service and entity in question. Inspect defined terms that affect the proposed activity, including the covered data, permitted users and intended purpose. Record which documents are available and request references that are missing.
Treat training, inference or processing, redistribution, derived outputs and third-party access as activities to investigate in the particular agreement. These are review questions, not universal legal definitions. Keep the proposed technical behavior clear enough for legal, procurement and data owners to discuss the same scenario.
Build an activity-led review table
Attach source locations and document dates to the working table. A row should expose the question requiring review rather than label the activity permitted or prohibited before the responsible person has assessed it.
| Proposed activity | Source to inspect | Question for the reviewer |
|---|---|---|
| Process licensed material for an internal answer | Permitted-purpose language, definitions and order | Does the proposed processing fit the specified internal use and users? |
| Use material to train or adapt a model | Restrictions, definitions and later exceptions | Which wording addresses this activity, and what is still unclear? |
| Share a derived answer with a third party | Redistribution provisions and output-related terms | What information leaves the organization and who receives it? |
Test a bounded internal-use exception
Illustrative example: a master license restricts redistribution, while a later order permits a bounded internal use for one service. A team proposes an assistant that summarizes licensed material and shares answers with an external adviser.
Inspect the service, entities, permitted users and effective date covered by the order. The internal-use wording may be relevant to part of the workflow without resolving the external sharing question. Neither the restriction excerpt nor the later permission alone establishes the position for every step.
Preserve changed and unchanged provisions
Identify what the later document changes and what it leaves in place. Record any dependency on a referenced schedule, consent or exception. If the proposal changes from internal analysis to external distribution, revisit the evidence rather than carrying forward the earlier review unchanged.
Assign open questions to the person able to resolve them, with a clear description of the proposed activity and the source needed. Keep the review date, underlying records and resulting decision together so a future reviewer understands the scope of the assessment.
Bring connected evidence to the decision
Prepare a concise packet containing the workflow description, agreement family, relevant passages, dated changes and unresolved points. This guide supports review, not legal interpretation. Approval and technical implementation remain matters for the organization’s responsible teams.
LineageAI connects source relationships, effective dates, scope and evidence. Use that connected evidence to see what changed, retain the provisions that still apply and bring open questions to the responsible reviewer. Use the decision brief to consider the ongoing responsibility for keeping that context current.