Fears that the stampede to embrace AI is putting businesses in danger have been heightened by a new analysis which reveals bosses are not only concerned about losing sensitive data but that employees are riding rough shod over company policy.
According to a new study by Turbotic, over half of UK businesses (51%) fear employees are feeding confidential company data into unauthorised AI tools, as maintaining visibility and control over AI deployment becomes increasingly difficult.
The study, which surveyed more than 1,000 senior decision-makers involved in setting and assessing AI projects in UK businesses, also shed light on the prevalence of shadow AI, where employees use AI tools without formal approval or oversight.
In fact, the figures show the problem is all but out of control, with nearly nine in 10 (88%) bosses saying they believe it is being used within their organisation, with sales and marketing teams showing the highest reported use (55% combined), followed by IT (36%) and customer service (30%).
Alongside concerns around staff sharing sensitive data with AI, other top worries included regulatory or compliance breaches (38%), employees using AI without management oversight (36%) and inaccurate or unreliable AI-generated information influencing business decisions (35%).
Despite its intensive use, more than a quarter (27%) of respondents – all of whom have direct involvement in their organisation’s AI initiatives and deployment decisions – said they were not familiar with the term ‘shadow AI’ before the survey, showing that awareness is lagging behind adoption.
The research exposes how the issues are mounting as businesses move AI from experimentation into wider use, with some 64% saying most or all of their organisation’s AI pilot projects had progressed into day-to-day business operations.
Turbotic CEO and co-founder Theodore Bergqvist said: “Our research, as we expected, shows that AI is already being used across UK businesses and more are keen to move on from the pilot stage into full-blown integration.
“But what did surprise us is that, as adoption is increasing, just how many organisations don’t know which tools their people are using, what data is being put into them, whether AI is influencing a business decision, or even what the term shadow AI means.
“That’s a huge problem when it comes to properly managing the risks that come with AI use, and encouraging more adoption will only make the problem harder to manage.
“If organisations want AI to become part of everyday business, they need to first treat visibility, governance and trust as part of deployment, not something to bolt on afterwards. And this responsibility must sit not with employees, but with leadership, who need to be creating an environment where people know what they can use, what they can’t, and why.”
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