Starting compliance documentation from scratch can take weeks or months, depending on your business size and scope. Let’s say you spend the next two months reviewing, drafting and refining policies as part of your risk and compliance efforts in preparation for a SOC 2 audit for an average of three hours a day. That adds up to roughly 120 hours to complete.
Add the pressure for these documents to be precise, defensible and aligned with regulatory requirements, and it’s easy to see how you can save hundreds of hours for your governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) work if you didn’t have to create your company policies manually. An AI-powered policy management system can support policy creation can generate the first draft, so you spend less time writing and more time refining and applying your judgment to audit management and GRC tasks.
Why Compliance Documentation Is So Hard to Start
Regardless of how advanced your compliance tech is, it’ll only go so far without well-structured and optimized policy documentation that supports long-term regulatory adherence. But documenting compliance policies from the beginning can be difficult, for several reasons.
High Stakes
Compliance documentation carries a unique kind of pressure. It must withstand regulatory scrutiny, internal challenges and external audits while clearly mapping to applicable compliance standards. With such high stakes, the opening lines feel unusually consequential.
Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing Early
Your GRC team may hesitate to start writing policy documents because of the perceived risk of early missteps. If your team member uses a poorly worded sentence, for example, they may misinterpret regulatory intent, introducing compliance gaps. To avoid rework or misalignment, it might feel safer to keep postponing writing until there’s time to do it properly.
Repetitive Formats
Another reason compliance documentation is difficult is that much of GRC documentation is repetitive by nature:
- Control descriptions usually require a statement of purpose, scope, owner, testing procedures and related security measures.
- Policy sections always include roles and responsibilities, compliance requirements and references to supporting documents.
- An operational risk statement often describes similar risks across processes and departments within a broader risk and compliance framework.
- Risk management summaries highlight frameworks for risk identification, assessment and mitigation.
- The regulatory change management section summarizes how to track regulatory changes and action plans to remain compliant.
Yet your team has to write fresh compliance documents from scratch to avoid copying outdated or inconsistent language from past documents that doesn’t align with your current frameworks.
How AI Helps in Compliance Documentation
Nearly two-thirds (59%) of the highest revenue organizations already use AI in compliance, compared to 14% of low-revenue peers. But how can AI tools, including generative AI and machine learning, actually help teams overcome the blank page problem?
Creating a First Draft
AI excels at creating a basic structure. You can prompt it with something like, “Draft a high-level information security policy aligned with ISO 27001.”
This will give you a reasonable starting point, with a draft including:
- A definition
- Purpose
- Roles
- Responsibilities
- Procedures
Keep in mind that AI content is usually vague or based on generic policy templates that may not reflect your security management requirements. Your GRC team members can refine terminology and tailor controls to your environment so that the document reflects how your organization operates.
Structuring Policy Documents
Compliance documents often follow rigid frameworks. For instance, if you’re preparing documentation for a SOC 2 audit, you’re expected to present information in a way that maps to the Trust Service Criteria. So, regardless of your industry, you’ll include standard sections such as purpose, scope, system description, control activities and monitoring.
You can use an AI policy management system to structure your policy in a way that aligns with regulatory expectations while supporting consistent policy reviews and approval workflows. Instead of deciding what sections to include and in what order, your team can start with a framework-aware outline and focus on customizing content to your internal controls and processes.
Rewriting Repetitive Language
Many GRC documents use standard phrasing across controls and internal policies. Automated policy management software can generate consistent language and suggest alternatives for repetitive sections, reducing manual rewrites.
Where AI Should Not Work Alone
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are immensely helpful in regulatory compliance documentation. But though these technologies work fast, they can’t contextualize your organization’s security posture and obligations without human assistance. So while AI policy management software is a great starting point, some parts of the documentation process require human judgment.
Final Compliance Decisions
While AI is great at reducing GRC administrative burden, it can’t accurately determine whether your internal controls are sufficient or properly designed. These decisions require the oversight and accountability within your GRC Program.
Regulatory Interpretation
Regulations and standards leave room for interpretation based on your industry and risk tolerance. You can use AI to summarize requirements, but it won’t reliably interpret how to apply them to your specific circumstances.
Approval-Ready Sign-off
If your compliance documentation is intended for regulators or executive approval, you’ll need human validation. Always review AI-generated drafts for accuracy and alignment with internal policies.
What Changes for Your GRC Team When the Blank Page Disappears
When you no longer have to start documenting from the beginning, your policy lifecycle begins to shift. AI-powered software can change how your team members spend their time and attention in completing compliance documentation.
Shifting the Focus From Writing to Refining
One of the biggest advantages of AI is speed. In a 2024 Thomson Reuters report, 54% of professionals across industries say they don’t have enough time to achieve what they want in their roles. AI could free:
- 4 hours a week within a year
- 8 hours a week in three years
- 12 hours a week in five years
Instead of struggling to get initial thoughts onto the page, your GRC team can use AI to start the documentation with a workable draft. Then they can use the freed time to review and validate rather than compose compliance documents line by line.
More Time for Risk Thinking and Decision-Making
With AI forecast to save almost 200 hours per team member within the first year, your GRC professionals can spend more time on higher-value work. Documentation becomes a reflection of thoughtful analysis rather than a rushed administrative task.
Reduced Burnout From Documentation Overload
Forbes reports that 85% of GRC professionals admit their teams spend at least 30% of their time on repetitive tasks. And repetitive writing is one of the biggest contributors to compliance fatigue. AI can shoulder most of this documentation burden, so larger workloads feel more manageable.
Faster Turnaround Without Sacrificing Quality or Trust
A faster start leads to quicker completion without compromising accuracy. With more time to review and refine, your compliance documents become more consistent, simplifying approval workflows and making it easier for auditors and stakeholders to trust.
Best Practices for Using AI in Compliance Documentation
Despite widespread adoption rates, only 22% of organizations have defined AI strategies. Businesses with deliberate AI strategies grow revenue 1.9× faster and achieve critical AI benefits 3.5× more often than peers with informal adoption.
Simply using an AI plugin in compliance documentation isn’t enough. How you use it matters. Here are some best practices to get the most out of AI:
- Start with clear prompts and scope.
- Always review and contextualize outputs.
- Align AI drafts with internal standards and compliance standards.
- Keep humans in the approval loop.
- Treat AI as a productivity layer, not a shortcut.
Create More Compliant Documents in Less Time
Onspring has a dynamic, no-code AI-powered policy management system to help your GRC team move from blank pages to finalized documents. But as industry leaders, we offer more than these AI features.
You get a single place to manage all your policies so every stakeholder can find everything they need to know about working with your company quickly. Download our ebook From Blank Page to GRC Ready to learn how you can use AI to simplify policy creation and maintain a clear audit trail.
