Free checklist · Shadow AI
Find the AI tools your team already uses
Sign-ups nobody mentioned, browser add-ons, meeting note-takers and AI features inside software you already pay for. Ten places to look, in about 30 minutes, using records your business already has.
In a March survey of 784 people in seven countries, 52% of knowledge workers said they use AI tools their employer has not approved, while 90% of executives were confident they knew which AI tools were in use.
One ground rule
Look only at business accounts, business devices and records the business already has. Skip personal phones, personal accounts and private messages. Tell your team you are doing this and why: to agree clear rules, not to catch anyone out.
10 places to look
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Look for AI, GPT, assistant, "Pro plan" and app-store charges. Note anything you don't recognise and ask who it belongs to.
Your adminOur suggestion
Software that staff paid for themselves and claimed back is the easiest kind to miss.
Your adminOur suggestion
Search shared and business email for "subscription", "receipt", "your plan" and "trial". Free trials often turn into paid plans.
Your adminOur suggestion
In the admin settings of your email and documents provider, or each person's account security page, find the third-party apps people have connected or signed in to with their work account.
Your adminOur suggestion
On computers the business owns, open the browser's extensions page and note writing, meeting, summary or tab helpers.
EveryoneOur suggestion
Email, documents, meetings, chat, customer records, design and accounting tools: open each one's settings or plan page and note any AI features that are switched on.
Your adminOur suggestion
Check recent meeting invites and recordings for note-taker or assistant attendees, and your meeting app for automatic summaries.
EveryoneOur suggestion
Look at installed apps on business-owned devices only. Skip personal phones.
Your adminOur suggestion
In a team meeting or a short message. Ask what helps them, not who broke a rule: people tell you more when nobody is in trouble for answering.
EveryoneOur suggestion
List each tool, who uses it and what it costs, then decide what information may go into it. Until you decide, treat a new tool as approved for public information only.
Your adminOur suggestion
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Five questions to ask your team
- Which AI tools have you tried for work this year, including free ones and browser add-ons?
- Which ones do you still use, and what for?
- Did you sign up with your work email, or sign in with your work account?
- Has anything gone into them that you would rather we decided on together, such as client names or figures?
- Which tool would you most like us to approve properly, so you can keep using it?
You do every step yourself, with your own records; nothing here is sent to us. These are places to look, not a review of your business or a compliance determination.
Next: put every tool on one list
List your AI tools for free in about 10 minutes, or get the AI Use Register Kit ($49) for a register, a usage policy your staff sign, and a review every quarter.
Turning on the AI assistant in your office apps? See the sharing checklists →