Shadow AI FinderWhat is shadow AI?
Shadow AI is any AI tool, model or agent used for work without the approval of the people responsible for the organisation's data, security and risk. It is usually well meant: someone found a faster way to do their job and nobody checked where the data goes.
What it looks like day to day
- A sales manager pastes a client's pricing into a personal chat assistant account to draft a proposal.
- An AI note-taker joins every call on a team's calendar and keeps the transcripts in its own cloud.
- A developer's editor sends code to a coding assistant signed in with a personal email.
- A nightly script calls a model API with a key on someone's own credit card.
- An agent is given access to a shared mailbox so it can answer and file messages on its own.
None of these needs an install request or a purchase order, which is exactly why nobody responsible for data hears about them.
Shadow AI and shadow IT
The UK National Cyber Security Centre describes shadow IT as "unknown assets that are used within an organisation for business purposes" (UK National Cyber Security Centre, Shadow IT guidance, published 27 July 2023, reviewed 14 August 2026). Shadow AI is the AI part of that, with differences that change how you handle it:
| Shadow IT | Shadow AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Often a purchase or an install | A browser tab and a free account |
| What leaves | Files kept in another service | Prompts, uploads and recordings, which the provider may keep or learn from |
| Can it act? | Rarely | Agents send, book, buy and change things with a person's access |
| Switching it off | Stops the exposure | Doesn't recall what was already shared |
How common it is
- 75% of knowledge workers use AI at work. Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index, 8 May 2024
- 78% of AI users bring their own AI tools to work. Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index, 8 May 2024
- 52% of people who use AI at work are reluctant to admit using it for their most important tasks. Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index, 8 May 2024
- 38% of workers share sensitive work information with AI tools without their employer's knowledge. CybSafe and the National Cybersecurity Alliance, Oh, Behave! 2024, 26 September 2024
Put together: most people already use AI at work, most of them chose the tool themselves, and many would rather not say so. Asking people what they use undercounts it; logs don't.
The kinds of tool involved
The Shadow AI Finder catalogue covers 79 services in 8 categories. What each kind receives is what makes it matter:
| Type | Services | For example | What it receives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat assistant | 17 | ChatGPT / OpenAI, Claude, Gemini | questions, pasted text and uploaded files |
| Model API or platform | 13 | OpenAI API, Anthropic API, Google AI Studio / Gemini API | whatever a script or agent sends, often automatically |
| Image, video and voice | 12 | Midjourney, Leonardo.Ai, Ideogram | brand assets, likenesses and voice samples |
| Coding assistant | 9 | GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf / Codeium | source code and anything embedded in it, such as keys |
| Meeting recorder | 9 | Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Fathom | recordings and transcripts of calls |
| Slides, research and documents | 8 | NotebookLM, Gamma, Tome | reports, research and internal documents |
| Writing and translation | 7 | Grammarly, DeepL, QuillBot | drafts, emails and contracts |
| Agent and automation | 4 | Manus, Lindy, Relevance AI | a person's accounts, so it can act for them |
Signs it is already there
- Expense claims or card statements with AI subscriptions on them.
- Calendar invites that include a note-taker as a guest.
- "Sign in with Google" or "Sign in with Microsoft" consents to AI apps nobody reviewed.
- Model API traffic from servers or laptops that no project owns.
What isn't shadow AI
An approved tool used carelessly is a policy and training problem, not shadow AI. Neither is an AI feature inside software you already approved, though it is worth checking whether that feature was switched on under the same terms.
Find the shadow AI in your logs · How to detect shadow AI · Shadow AI risks
Questions
Is shadow AI illegal?
Not in itself. What can break a law or a contract is the data that goes into the tool: personal data, client material under an NDA or regulated records. That is why finding it comes before banning it.
Is ChatGPT shadow AI?
Only when it is used for work without approval. The same product can be sanctioned (a company workspace with agreed terms) or shadow AI (a personal account used for client work).
What is BYOAI?
Bring your own AI: staff using AI tools they chose and often pay for themselves. Microsoft and LinkedIn's 2024 Work Trend Index found 78% of AI users do it. It is the main way shadow AI starts.
Who owns the problem?
Usually security or IT finds it, but the decision about which tools to approve belongs with whoever owns data protection and risk, together with the teams that use the tools.
Sources
- Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index, 8 May 2024
- CybSafe and the National Cybersecurity Alliance, Oh, Behave! 2024, 26 September 2024
- UK National Cyber Security Centre, Shadow IT guidance, published 27 July 2023, reviewed 14 August 2026
- Each figure checked on the source page, 1 October 2026.