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A person carrying a laptop walks through a gap in an organization's guarded wall into a dark area containing an AI cloud and app icons. Dashed footprints trace the route beyond the boundary.
Reviewed visual · version 1

RS Glossary

Shadow AI

Shadow AI is the use of AI tools, accounts, integrations, or workflows outside an organization's approved governance, security, procurement, or visibility processes.

Review state
Reviewed in POC
Freshness
Current
Version
2
  • Shadow AI

Remember it this wayIf the organization cannot see the AI use, it cannot govern the risk or learn from the need.

In plain language

Employees may adopt a public assistant, browser extension, automated workflow, or personal account to get work done without the organization knowing what data or decisions are involved.

Why it matters

Hidden use creates unknown data flows, contracts, dependencies, quality risks, and incident paths. It can also signal that approved tools do not meet real workflow needs.

Example

An employee pastes confidential meeting notes into a free personal chatbot because the approved system lacks a useful summarization feature.

Common misconception

Shadow AI is not solved only by prohibition. Organizations also need usable alternatives, literacy, clear boundaries, and a safe path for employees to surface unmet needs.

Related terms

Sources

Learn more

  • Treat hidden use as both a governance risk and a [[friction|Friction]] signal.

Public history

45 recorded events · 45 public summaries

  1. A potential shared concept was discussed and selected for initial glossary drafting.

  2. The captured candidate received a complete initial draft and entered section-level human review.

  3. Radar reviewed the initial definition draft for human consideration.

  4. Radar reviewed the initial plain-language-explanation draft for human consideration.

  5. Radar reviewed the initial why-it-matters draft for human consideration.

  6. Radar reviewed the initial example draft for human consideration.

  7. Radar reviewed the initial common-misconception draft for human consideration.

  8. Radar reviewed the initial remember-it-this-way draft for human consideration.

  9. Radar reviewed the initial related-terms draft for human consideration.

  10. Radar reviewed the initial sources draft for human consideration.

  11. Radar reviewed the initial learn-more draft for human consideration.

  12. A proposal was opened for section-level human review while preserving the current version.

  13. A human reviewer opened a proposed revision while preserving the current approved or captured version.

  14. definition approved by a human reviewer.

  15. plain-language-explanation approved by a human reviewer.

  16. why-it-matters approved by a human reviewer.

  17. example approved by a human reviewer.

  18. common-misconception approved by a human reviewer.

  19. remember-it-this-way approved by a human reviewer.

  20. related-terms approved by a human reviewer.

  21. sources returned for revision.

  22. learn-more approved by a human reviewer.

  23. Requested wording was prepared without changing approved or existing sections.

  24. Radar reviewed the pending sources section for human consideration.

  25. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  26. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  27. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  28. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  29. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  30. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  31. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  32. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  33. Radar must rereview the complete shadow-ai term after an accepted text change.

  34. sources approved by a human reviewer.

  35. sources approved wording became the current section text.

  36. All section gates are approved; content version 2 is now a fully approved term.

  37. Radar rereviewed the human-approved definition wording for this exact version.

  38. Radar rereviewed the human-approved plain-language-explanation wording for this exact version.

  39. Radar rereviewed the human-approved why-it-matters wording for this exact version.

  40. Radar rereviewed the human-approved example wording for this exact version.

  41. Radar rereviewed the human-approved common-misconception wording for this exact version.

  42. Radar rereviewed the human-approved remember-it-this-way wording for this exact version.

  43. Radar rereviewed the human-approved related-terms wording for this exact version.

  44. Radar rereviewed the human-approved sources wording for this exact version.

  45. Radar rereviewed the human-approved learn-more wording for this exact version.

Source: vault/Glossary/terms/shadow-ai/term.md · sha256:af87ab7276b5ca87b47bd752dcd20f3c0cf20910d1503bd14252566244fcba4b · Release: rs-glossary-glossary-team-poc-0.5.5-2026-09-02