An AI contract is usually read by the wrong part of the company. Legal looks at liability and data protection, finance looks at the number, and nobody looks at the five things that decide whether you are still free at the end. All five fit on one page, and none of them takes technical knowledge to insist on.
The most important clause in any AI contract is the exit clause. It is the only one you will read carefully the day you need it.
The five
Exit in thirty days, and what leaves with you. Being able to terminate is not enough. Write down what you take: raw data, processed data, the written rules, the decision history, the documentation. In an open format and within a stated deadline.
Where the data lives and who touches it. If the data is sensitive, the standard architecture keeps identified data inside your environment. That is your decision, written into the contract, not a technical explanation in a meeting.
Who keeps your team's corrections. Every fix your people make is your company's knowledge. If the contract is silent, it becomes the vendor's asset — and you pay to rebuild it if you switch.
What is measured, and how often you see it. Volume processed, correction rate, cost per unit, response time. Defined in the contract and sent without you asking. A metric that only appears on request is a metric that disappears in a bad month.
A ceiling on variable cost. An AI system charges by usage, and usage grows with your volume. Agree a monthly limit, a warning before it is hit, and who authorizes going over. Without it, the surprise arrives on the invoice.
Why these five and not others
All five protect the same thing: your ability to change supplier without losing what the company has learned. It is the opposite of the old software model, where the cost of leaving was precisely the product being sold. A good AI supplier accepts all five without argument, because they plan to be kept for results, not for how hard it is to leave.
The quick test
Send the five by email before the next meeting and watch what comes back. A supplier who answers with a document is ready. A supplier who answers "we can sort that out later" has already answered.
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