I run shadow AI on purpose.
Not the dangerous kind. The useful kind. Research gets pulled, my work gets checked against my own rules, and what needs me is waiting when I open my laptop. I chose each piece. I know what it touches and what it cannot touch.
Most operators have the opposite problem. They have shadow AI too. They just do not know it yet.
A while back I looked at my own setup and found I had made dozens of AI decisions without calling them that. Which tools I used. What data I fed in. Which jobs I handed to a model without asking what came out the other end.
That audit changed how I built everything after it.
Now when I look at a thirty-person company, I see it right away. The ops manager summarizes contracts in ChatGPT. The HR coordinator runs candidate notes through a free tool she found on Reddit. Neither thinks she is doing anything wrong, and she is not. She is doing what I did. Using what works and moving faster.
What she does not have is a rule for what goes in and what stays out.
By the numbers: at small firms of 11 to 50 people, Reco Security's State of Shadow AI Report counts 269 unsanctioned AI tools per 1,000 employees, and finds 54% of those tools have been used to upload sensitive company data.
That is not a future risk. It is today.
You have shadow AI. What you control is who finds it first, you or someone else.
One thing to do this week. Send this to your team today:
"Quick question, no judgment: what AI tools are you actually using day to day, including anything personal you use for work? ChatGPT, Claude, Notion AI, browser extensions, anything. I am building a real picture of what we are working with so I can support you better."
What comes back will be the most honest technology inventory your company has ever produced. It is not the audit. It is the start of a conversation you are already behind on.
Three things before you go
Forward this to one business owner who is trying to figure out where AI fits in their business. One forward is more useful to me than ten retweets.
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Boubacar
I help companies put AI to work without the confusion.
[email protected] · signal.catalystworks.consulting