Unauthorized artificial intelligence, or Shadow AI, has sneaked into companies like a digital stowaway. Employees use ChatGPT, Copilot, or Midjourney without IT supervision, generating risks of data leaks and biases. The challenge is not to ban, but to manage this innovation without hindering work.
Five technical steps to channel AI in your company 🛡️
The first step is to inventory unauthorized tools through network logs or DLP. Then, define clear policies specifying which data (credits, clients, code) should not be processed. Offering approved alternatives, such as corporate instances of LLM models, reduces temptation. Educate on security risks, without blaming the employee, and monitor usage with activity dashboards to complete the cycle. The goal is to channel innovation into secure channels.
The employee who asked ChatGPT for their salary (and got it) 😅
Of course, nothing beats educating staff not to use AI to draft their own termination report or ask the chatbot to calculate the annual bonus. In the end, Shadow AI is like a child with matches: if you don't watch them, they'll burn the office down. But if you give them a lighter approved by IT, at least you know what's going to catch fire.