Dive Brief:
- Generative AI use in the workplace has nearly doubled in the last six months, but governance isn’t keeping up, according to a Microsoft and LinkedIn report published Wednesday.
- Three in 5 leaders are worried about their organization’s lack of plan and vision for AI implementation, according to the survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries. More than three-quarters of employees using AI admit to bringing their own AI tools to work, straining enterprise cybersecurity and data privacy standards.
- Employees are using AI tools not provided by their organization to assist with some of their most important tasks as the volume of work outpaces employees’ ability to keep up, the report found.
Dive Insight:
Reigning in shadow IT has been an ongoing crusade for CIOs, but the risks accompanying AI tools have upped the ante.
Without guidance and enterprise-grade guardrails, employees can expose critical data or intellectual property, introduce additional legal liability or violate copyright restrictions.
The stakes are high — and expected to escalate as ungoverned AI systems present more opportunities for threat actors to attack.
CIOs and IT teams are responsible for finding enterprise-grade frameworks for employees who want AI assistance — if they haven’t already. The CIO is the C-suite member most frequently tasked with overseeing AI governance in companies with ongoing generative AI investments, an Info-Tech Research Group survey in October found.
CIOs who set the business up for successful adoption will communicate with employees and provide resources related to best practices and usage guidelines, according to experts.
