Why this matters now

Two big forces converged in the last two weeks:

• Federal push on AI policy. The December 11, 2025 executive order sets up a DOJ task force to challenge state AI laws that conflict with federal policy and directs Commerce to consider funding penalties for states with “onerous” AI rules. Litigation is likely, but the signal is clear: prepare for national frameworks and scrutiny.
• Assistant distribution heats up. Amazon’s Alexa+ announced new integrations with Expedia, Yelp, Angi, and Square rolling out in 2026, and Waymo is testing Gemini as an in‑car assistant. Assistants are quickly becoming commerce and support surfaces. If you sell or support via these channels, your AI compliance has to be portable—consistent policies, disclosures, and logs across every surface.

Net net: treat AI governance like product ops. Ship small, verifiable controls now so you’re ready whether federal preemption sticks or states retain more authority.

Your 30‑day compliance plan (founder edition)

Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. Consult counsel for your specific situation.

Days 1–3: Inventory and risk‑tier your AI

• Map systems and data. List every place you use AI: support bots, marketing content, fraud/risk, personalization, pricing, logistics. For each, capture data inputs/outputs, vendors/models, retention, and who approves changes.
• Create risk tiers. Tier 1: anything that can charge customers, change prices, process identity/health/financial data, or affect access to credit/services. Tier 2: content and recommendations. Tier 3: internal assistance and drafts. Higher tiers need stronger reviews, tests, and guardrails.
• Define “high‑stakes” events. E.g., charging a card, changing a price/discount, account lockouts, safety‑related advice. These require human‑in‑the‑loop or explicit approvals.

Days 4–7: Policies, disclosures, vendors

• Publish an AI Use & Licensing page. State what your AI does, data usage/retention, training rights, attribution rules, and a corrections contact. Add it to your footer and assistant listings. If you’re optimizing for assistant traffic, see our Assistant SEO playbook.
• Ship user disclosures. In carts, chats, and emails, indicate when users interact with AI. Provide opt‑outs for sensitive uses and a simple workflow to reach a human.
• Harden vendor contracts. Add AI‑specific DPAs and SLAs with your LLM/tool providers: data residency, retention, training opt‑outs, incident notice, subprocessor lists, and audit logs. Require the ability to export per‑request traces for audits.
• Standing reviews for state law overlap. Preemption will be contested. Keep a simple register tracking which state rules (bias testing, impact assessments, child safety) may still apply in your operating states. Link to your controls that satisfy them.

Days 8–14: Make it testable

• Golden tasks + evals. For each Tier‑1/2 use case, define canonical prompts, expected outcomes, and failure boundaries. Run daily regression checks before deploys.
• Observable actions. Log every “act” (refund, price change, booking, message send) with trace IDs, inputs, approvals, and outputs. Store summaries 12–24 months.
• Guardrails by design. Enforce allow/deny lists, safe tool scopes, rate limits, and role‑based approvals for payment/shipping changes. Minimize PII passed to models; tokenize where possible.
• Incident playbook. Define who triages model failures, how you pause risky actions, and how you notify affected users. Post a public corrections policy.

Days 15–30: Bring it to your growth channels

• Alexa+ and assistant listings. Prepare short, factual descriptions, disclosures, and links to policies for assistant surfaces. If you plan to support bookings or payments via Alexa+, align your flows with Square/Expedia/Yelp/Angi integrations and your refund policy.
• In‑car and on‑the‑go. If you pilot in‑car experiences (e.g., Waymo’s Gemini trial), keep responses short, safe, and non‑defensive; avoid commentary on real‑time driving. Provide opt‑outs and human escalation paths.
• Commerce via chat. If you’re wiring conversational checkout, follow our 60‑minute build tutorial and instrument UTMs so assistant‑sourced conversions are auditable.
• Training and audits. Run a 60‑minute team training on your new policy, risk tiers, and how to report issues. Book a Q1 external review on your highest‑risk flows.

E‑commerce: specific moves to make this week

• Transparent offers and receipts. When AI recommends a product or applies a discount, show why (criteria, promo rules) and include a one‑click way to view/undo cart changes.
• Price and promo governance. Log every AI‑driven price change or coupon with inputs and constraints. Review weekly for fairness and errors.
• Support you can trust. Label AI in chat, cap refunds/credits, and include a button for “Talk to a human.” Log summaries to your ticketing system.
• Catalog hygiene. Keep titles/specs consistent and structured; assistants prefer clean attributes. This also improves your Assistant SEO.

What the executive order changes—and what it doesn’t

The order signals a move toward a centralized U.S. AI framework. Expect more federal guidance on safety, disclosures, and data use. But it doesn’t erase your current obligations overnight. States like California, Colorado, and New York have moved on bias testing, impact assessments, or model safety statements—and legal challenges will take time. The practical posture for founders is simple: implement controls that satisfy both federal direction and the strictest states you touch. You’ll be ready whichever way the courts go.

To understand how distribution is shifting in parallel, skim our strategy notes in Assistants Are the New App Store and our contracting guidance in the AI Licensing Playbook.

Founder checklist you can paste into a ticket

1. Create an AI System Register (sheet or Notion) listing purpose, data, actions, approvals, vendor, model version, logs.
2. Publish/Link your AI Use & Licensing page in footer and assistant descriptions.
3. Add golden tasks and a pre‑deploy eval to each Tier‑1/2 workflow.
4. Turn on action logging with trace IDs for refunds, price changes, bookings, and outbound messages.
5. Update vendor DPAs (training opt‑out, retention, subprocessor notice, exportable logs).
6. Document a pause/rollback procedure and a public corrections policy.
7. Instrument assistant UTMs so Alexa+/ChatGPT/Perplexity traffic is measurable and auditable.

Resources and next steps

• Policy context: What the December 11 executive order says.
• Assistant channels: Alexa+ integrations and Waymo’s Gemini test.
• Deep dives from our team: Agent standards and portability (AAIF) · Assistant SEO in 2026 · AI Licensing Playbook.

Bottom line

Don’t wait for the courts. Implement portable controls you won’t regret: clear policies, tested workflows, observable actions, and tight vendor terms. That foundation will keep you compliant—and unlock distribution on the assistant surfaces that are going to matter most in 2026.

Work with HireNinja

Need help shipping the controls above—without slowing your roadmap? Try HireNinja to generate AI policies, wire assistant analytics and UTMs, add AGENTS.md/MCP integrations, and stand up audit‑ready logging in days, not months.