Shadow AI Risk

Why Shadow AI Is Your Next Big Security Risk Your organization probably has ChatGPT, Claude, or some other LLM tool in use right now. Somewhere, someone on the marketing team is using ChatGPT to draft emails. A data analyst is asking Claude to help analyze spreadsheets. A developer is using GitHub Copilot to write code. And IT doesn't know about most of it. This is shadow AI, and it's becoming a major security and compliance problem. Shadow AI refers to AI tools and models that are used within an organization without official approval, governance, or security oversight. Unlike shadow IT—where employees use personal services and tools outside of company control—shadow AI often involves sending company data to third-party AI services, with no understanding of where that data goes, how it's stored, or who might have access to it. The scope is staggering. Studies show that over 60% of organizations have employees using generative AI for work, yet most lack comprehensive policies or monitor