1. What is ‘shadow AI’ and why is it a problem?
Employees’ unauthorised use of AI in the workplace.
Society’s growing reliance on AI tools means they’re becoming a routine part of our working lives too. But often this goes against company policies. This isn’t just about ‘breaking the rules’. Once colleagues feed public LLMs with confidential or sensitive data – from financial performance and company IP to business strategies and customer insights – this information sits outside the corporate environment, and the business loses control of how it’s handled from there.
2. How do organisations clamp down on this?
It’s easy to say that company policies need to be robust, but it’s not just about writing them. They need to be socialised throughout the workforce, understood and enforced – consistently. 86% of people report that their firms have AI policies, but 81% believe leadership adopt different standards (TechRadar).
Also, look closer at why AI tools are being used. If they’re relied on to fill knowledge gaps, unblock productivity challenges, or facilitate workarounds to avoid the ‘mundane’, the root causes would be better addressed at a strategic level.
3. How do businesses tackle this if budget is tight?
We recently spoke to a legal firm who said: “We’ve rolled out AI”, because every employee had CoPilot. Firstly, AI adoption is never “done” and secondly, the partner couldn’t articulate why the roll out had taken place, how colleagues were using it, or likely ROI. With CoPilot shifting to usage-based pricing, this could become cost prohibitive very quickly.
If it was my budget, I’d focus on the design and deployment of a secure, considered, intelligent chatbot. Affordable, scalable, and easy to use.
4. What is an intelligent chatbot?
We’re not talking about a ‘dumb-bot’ that sits on a website and frustrates visitors who can’t get the answers they need. We’re talking about an owned internal solution – specific to the organisation – that can securely locate, consume, and talk to masses of data, extract meaningful answers and, if necessary, keep the business operating 24/7.
Like a ‘private ChatGPT’ for your business, the chatbot is trained on your company documents, so users can ask whatever question they like – the bot will find the answer. Usually live within two weeks, they cost as little as £6,000.
5. Can you give some examples of how a bot could be used?
A bot can unlock untapped information, accelerate task completion, and reduce hours everywhere, exponentially. With knowledge access, it could speed up the onboarding of new starters who need to learn company intel and policies, ASAP. It could handle FAQs that would ordinarily drain the productivity of the IT or HR department. It could act as an assistant for a busy account manager struggling to recall the needs, wants and requests of a growing customer base. The list goes on.
6. How sophisticated can this get?
The art of the possible is exciting for some, mind-blowing for others. As firms advance their AI maturity, the capabilities, interconnectedness and ROI of a chatbot rockets. At an intermediate level, it can connect with live systems to provide real-time insights. Once advanced, it doesn’t just answer questions – it can do the work on your behalf. An expert chatbot can orchestrate entire business processes and surface insights that would otherwise remain untapped.
Your starting point should reflect where you are right now, with one eye constantly on your ‘North Star’. If you’re unsure, seek expert help. Contact us to discuss your concerns – or opportunities – large or small.
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