Let’s be honest.
Do you know exactly which AI tools your team is using right now.
Not what they should be using.
What they are actually using.
Because in most businesses, the answer is no.
Tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and others have been adopted incredibly quickly. As a result, people are using them to write emails, summarise documents, generate ideas and solve problems faster.
In many cases, they are doing it through personal accounts.
This is where the risk starts
When employees use AI tools outside of your control, it creates what is often called shadow AI.
This means your company information is being shared with systems you do not manage, cannot monitor and cannot audit.
For example, it might be something simple.
Copying an email into an AI tool.
Uploading a document to get a summary.
Or asking for help with a proposal.
However, all of that involves sharing data.
Once it leaves your environment, you lose visibility.
Most of the time, it is not intentional
This is not about employees doing the wrong thing on purpose.
Instead, it is about people trying to work more efficiently.
The problem is the tools have moved faster than your policies.
As a result, that gap is where risk builds up.
Why this matters for your business
If sensitive information is shared with external AI tools, it can create issues around data protection, client confidentiality and internal security.
In some cases, it could even put you in breach of your own policies.
More importantly, you may not even know it is happening.
If you are unsure how AI is being used across your business, it is worth taking a closer look. You can get in touch here and we will point you in the right direction.
What you should do next
Banning AI is not realistic.
Your team will use it anyway.
So instead, the better approach is to take control of it.
That means deciding which tools are approved, setting clear boundaries on what can be shared, making sure your team understands the risks, and putting visibility in place where possible.
AI is already part of how your business operates.
The real question is whether you are managing it.
If you want help putting the right controls in place, or understanding where your risks are, you can get in touch here and we will talk you through it.
