Your team is almost certainly already using AI. Do you know who’s using it, and which tools they’re using?
Some small businesses are already all-in on AI, using it wherever they can. But many small business leaders are on the skeptical side, or at least haven’t seen a reason to roll out AI on a wide scale.
Some might even say “we aren’t using AI yet at our company.”
But if you have a team working in an office context, that probably isn’t true.
People are using AI. Someone’s using Copilot to draft emails; another’s uploading company spreadsheets to ChatGPT to get help. Someone else may be running an obscure browser extension or AI-powered browser to get ahead on some aspect of their work.
So even though the business hasn’t formally adopted AI anywhere in particular, AI is all over their workflows. Maybe only in small bits and pieces, but it’s there.
An Overlooked Question: Where Are the Boundaries?
If what we just described sounds more or less accurate for how your business is operating today, then this question is too important to overlook:
Where are the boundaries?
In other words:
- Are there AI tools your business approves of?
- Are there any you’ve banned?
- What kinds of company data can employees feed to an AI tool?
- Does the answer depend on the tool? Is it written down or enforceable?
Take that employee who uploaded a spreadsheet to ChatGPT (or insert whichever tool you like here). Was that an OK thing to do? Does the employee know? Where would they look to find out?
To be clear, it’s not like OpenAI (the maker of ChatGPT) is going to email your sensitive spreadsheet to your top 5 competitors or post it on the dark web. But there is still some level of risk. And the more obscure the AI tool, the greater the risk of something significant going wrong.
So for businesses that aren’t managing or monitoring AI use, the risks compound with each new use case and each new tool. Private customer information, proprietary business data, and even company financials should all stay private. Feeding those things to a public AI tool is risky, and if you’re working in a regulated industry, it could create violations that can cost you.
Shadow IT, but Make It AI
We’ve talked before about shadow IT, where companies end up running software and apps that IT doesn’t know about (or ignores). Essentially, now we’re seeing that, but an AI-powered version of it.
It’s tough to be that hard on team members: if an AI tool is improving their work or saving them time, why wouldn’t they use it?
At the same time, if you have no control or record of it, you can’t protect your business against unnecessary risk.
AI tools spread differently from major software, too. If you need a new CRM or project management software, chances are you’ll go through a significant procurement process, with lots of discussions and possibly competing bids.
When a team member finds a new AI tool that seems like it could help, they usually just start tinkering with it. No procurement process, no oversight.
What You Can Do
With new AI tools popping up by the second, policing AI use seems difficult — maybe even unworkable.
Start with educating your team: are there tools you know you want to ban? Make sure they know. Are there types of data that shouldn’t ever be pasted into personal accounts? Again, make sure they know.
If you’re ready to move past the honor system and get a truer sense of how your team is using (or should use) AI, we can help. Reach out anytime to schedule a call.