Restricting AI tools has a cost, so treat shadow AI as a chance to learn.

Standardizing tools is expected in an enterprise, but there’s a fine balance between controlling risk and enabling innovation. The last thing you want is a team that uses tools only because someone said so, and stops adapting and trying new approaches along the way. Understanding your people’s potential for radical change, rather than limiting it, can be what saves your business in a disruption like the one AI is bringing. Things are moving fast, so stay adaptable and keep exploring new tools and ideas with your team. Falling behind in the name of control can cost your business.

People keep finding new and better ways to do their jobs with AI, and that means using new tools that probably aren’t on the approved list. Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Index, a survey of 31,000 people in 31 countries, found that 75% of knowledge workers use generative AI at work, and 78% of AI users bring their own AI tools. Look at shadow AI as an opportunity to learn from those cases, and encourage your team to share its experiments.