What is Shadow AI?
Shadow AI is the use of AI tools without the approval or knowledge of the organization. It usually starts with good intentions: a summary, a draft, a quick fix. The risk is that sensitive data reaches services the company has no contract with, no visibility into and no way to recall.
How do you manage Shadow AI?
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See it
Find out which tools, which teams and which accounts are in use.
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Approve
Allow the tools the organization has a contract with.
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Decide on content
Warn, record or block by what is in the prompt, not by the domain.
What does Shadow AI look like in practice?
- Data
- Budget file for next year
- User
- Finance analyst
- Destination
- Unapproved AI tool in the browser
- Policy
- Financial data: approved AI tools only
- Decision
- Warn reason asked, then recorded
Where is Shadow AI handled in GuardStance?
AI Data Security lists the tools in use, and the same policy decides what can reach them.