In short: 53 percent of employees are already using private AI tools in the workplace because IT departments fail to provide approved alternatives.
IT teams are so busy implementing AI initiatives for other departments that they cannot modernize their own processes. Employees are solving the problem pragmatically: they are installing private AI tools on their own.
IT departments in many organizations are chronically overloaded: they secure, build and manage AI initiatives for the Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Operating Officer, HR and other functions. At the same time, they modernize cloud infrastructure, implement new security requirements and manage growing system landscapes. Their own working methods remain secondary.
The phenomenon is amplified by two cultural factors: IT departments are structurally risk-averse and tend to respond to external demands rather than proactively define their own needs. This caution is often organizationally advantageous, but when it comes to the pace of AI adoption, it becomes a brake. A recent study by NTT DATA Business Solutions with 1,657 British employees shows the consequence: 53 percent are already using private AI tools in their work. In the 25–34 age group, 75 percent have even bypassed official systems.
This “Bring Your Own AI” differs from classic shadow IT. It is not individual departments procuring software uncontrollably – individual employees are doing so decentrally and personally. The signal is clear: the workforce sees AI as a personal productivity upgrade and is not waiting for official approval. Companies that do not officially provide AI tools thus lose control over their own AI adoption.
The central risk lies not only in loss of control, but in governance and data security. Private accounts, untested tools and uncontrolled data flows do not arise from negligence, but from organizational inertia. CTOs must therefore decide: either IT itself becomes faster and integrates AI into its own working methods – or the security landscape will become fragile.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published June 11, 2026
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