> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.guardbook.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Adopting and signing your AI policy

> What adoption means, what you are confirming when you sign, and how guardbook records the signature.

Adoption is the moment a generated draft becomes your firm's policy. It is a deliberate act with a signature attached, not a status toggle.

## What you are confirming

The adoption dialog puts the confirmation in front of you before you sign. In substance, you are confirming three things:

1. that you have reviewed the policy **in full**
2. that it **accurately reflects** how the firm uses AI
3. that you are **authorised to adopt it** on behalf of the firm

> [!WARNING]
>
> Point two is the one to take seriously. You are not confirming that the document reads well. You are confirming that it describes your firm.
>
> If the policy commits to annual training and the firm has never run any, signing does not create the training. It creates a signed statement that you have it.

## Signing

**1. Select Adopt policy**

The button sits above the document, next to Download PDF.

**2. Check the name**

First name and last name are pre-filled from your account. Initials fill in automatically once both are set. Correct any of them if they are wrong.

**3. Add your signature**

Three ways: draw it, type it, or upload an image of it. All three are recorded as a signature, and guardbook stores which method was used.

**4. Confirm and adopt**

The button stays disabled until the name, the initials and a signature are all present.

Once adopted, the **Adopt policy** button is replaced by an **Adopted** badge, and the signature is embedded in the PDF from that point on.

## Who should sign

Someone authorised to bind the firm. In a partnership or small practice, a principal or partner. In a larger firm, whoever holds the AI decision.

The signature is against a **specific version** of the policy text. That is the point of it: it is evidence that a named person consented to those exact words on that date. Signature records are append-only, so a signature cannot be edited or removed once made.

> [!NOTE]
>
> guardbook does not check job titles or authority. It records who said they signed, when, and against which version. The question of whether that person could bind the firm is one your own governance has to answer.

## After adoption

Adopting is not the end of it. A policy is adopted against a version, and regenerating creates a new version that is not adopted until someone signs it.

[Keeping it current](https://help.guardbook.ai/ai-policy/keeping-it-current.md) covers when that needs to happen.


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