AI Security Tool Pilot Checklist: Data, Access and ROI

Retrospective: this article looks back at events from March 2023, written in 2026 with the benefit of hindsight.

Use this checklist before and during a pilot of an AI security assistant.

Data

• Data sources the assistant can access are listed.
• Data residency and processing location confirmed.
• Vendor confirms customer data isn't used to train shared models.
• Retention of prompts and responses understood.

Access

• The assistant respects existing role-based access (users can't see more through AI).
• Admin roles for the AI tool assigned to a small group.
• Plugins and integrations reviewed and limited.

Safety

• Analysts trained to verify outputs before acting.
• Automated actions (isolation, account disable) require human approval.
• Prompt injection risk understood — content being analyzed may contain instructions aimed at the AI.

Measurement

• Baseline metrics captured (time to triage, time to report, analyst hours per incident).
• Pilot metrics tracked weekly.
• Accuracy reviews by senior analysts.

Cost

• Pricing model understood (per user, per compute unit, per query).
• Budget cap or alerts set.
• Projected annual cost at full adoption estimated.

Decision

• Clear criteria for adopting, extending or ending the pilot.
• Findings shared with leadership.