The term “Shadow AI” has over 281,000 Google results The reason why the term is blowing up now? Nearly half (45%) of executives have adopted a “wait and watch” approach to AI adoption, but employees are missing the memo with 75% using AI at work. That practice is known as “Shadow AI,” and it’s a potential disaster that can cause havoc within an organization, according to Sreekanth Menon, Genpact’s global head of AI/ML. He built Genpact’s AI practice from the ground up back in 2017. Genpact is an AI-first $4.5B professional services firm deploying and continually refining AI strategies with the world’s most powerful and largest companies. I spoke by email with Menon, who told me that “Shadow AI” is the use of AI by employees within an organization without the necessary approvals and/or oversight. He informed me that there are many uses of the technology that remain unsanctioned by leadership, IT and security teams and use of ChatGPT 0utside company servers and IT systems. “With the rapid advancements in generative AI, the workforce has found consumer-grade AI tools, like ChatGPT, readily accessible and useful for tasks such as writing, designing and coding, Menon states. He cites that Over 50% of US employees already incorporate AI tools in their work, often without formal approval because of the lack of organizational policies and slow IT approval processes.

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