Key points
- Smooth projects make three things easy to forget: ownership, getting your work back, and leaving. Settle them in the contract.
- Pin down the scope: deliverables, deadlines and exclusions. Unclear scope is the biggest source of disputes. Agree the price, and what happens if work overruns.
- AI tools often bill by usage, so agree who pays the monthly charges and whose name the accounts carry. Ask outright who owns what gets built, the documents, the prompts that instruct the AI, any settings, and anything made from your information.
- Agree where your information is kept, who sees it, for how long, and whether it is returned or erased. Ideally, tool accounts are your business's, with access lent to the supplier, so you keep them if you part ways.
- Agree how you will judge the work done, ideally against your brief's measure; the handover of documents, access and training; and what support follows launch, for how long, and the price once it ends.
- Plan the exit at the outset. Agree how either side can end the deal and what you get back. Ask: if we parted in six months, what would we hold, and could someone else carry it on? Good suppliers expect their work to outlive the partnership, so they will answer clearly.
- Lock-in means a supplier or tool is too costly to leave in practice. Some cannot be avoided, as each tool works its own way. Unnecessary lock-in arises from things such as supplier-held accounts, work left undocumented, or a design needlessly tied to one AI model. Ask how hard and costly changing models would be.
- These questions do not replace advice from a qualified legal adviser, especially on bigger projects. Use them so every point gets answered in the contract.
Transcript
Smooth projects make three things easy to forget: ownership, getting your work back, and leaving. Settle them in the contract. Pin down the scope: deliverables, deadlines and exclusions. Unclear scope is the biggest source of disputes. Agree the price, and what happens if work overruns.
AI tools often bill by usage, so agree who pays the monthly charges and whose name the accounts carry. Ask outright who owns what gets built, the documents, the prompts that instruct the AI, any settings, and anything made from your information.
Agree where your information is kept, who sees it, for how long, and whether it is returned or erased. Ideally, tool accounts are your business's, with access lent to the supplier, so you keep them if you part ways. Agree how you will judge the work done, ideally against your brief's measure; the handover of documents, access and training; and what support follows launch, for how long, and the price once it ends.
Plan the exit at the outset. Agree how either side can end the deal and what you get back. Ask: if we parted in six months, what would we hold, and could someone else carry it on? Good suppliers expect their work to outlive the partnership, so they will answer clearly.
Lock-in means a supplier or tool is too costly to leave in practice. Some cannot be avoided, as each tool works its own way. Unnecessary lock-in arises from things such as supplier-held accounts, work left undocumented, or a design needlessly tied to one AI model.
Ask how hard and costly changing models would be. These questions do not replace advice from a qualified legal adviser, especially on bigger projects. Use them so every point gets answered in the contract.