The 2026 state of enterprise AI governance

Learn how employees work around IT to access AI

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the highlights

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We asked 1,500+ employees about how they use AI at work, and what they do when IT gets in the way

Get an exclusive look at how employees actually use AI at work. This includes the AI tools they use, what they connect it to, and the data they give it.

These findings will help you close the gap between how your employees use AI and what your team can see and govern.

1,500

full-time U.S. employees surveyed, excluding IT and security professionals

100-10,000

employees at respondents’ employers, spanning 9 industries

7/17 - 7/21

fielded through SurveyMonkey Audience

68%

of employees have already put sensitive company or customer data into an AI tool

28%

of employees say IT’s approval process is so slow that they skip asking for permission

73%

of employees say their company has no formal, enforced policy on AI access

Employees aren’t waiting for IT

AI already touches your most sensitive systems

>50%

of employees use AI to analyze financial data, manage code, enrich customer/prospect records, record or summarize calls, and more

62%

of employees connect AI directly to their email

Governance hasn't caught up

47%

of employees authenticate to AI tools with a personal login/token instead of IT-provisioned access

57%

of employees would use AI more at work if IT moved faster in provisioning access

See what it takes to close your company's shadow AI gap

Download the full report to see how employees actually use AI at work today, and what IT needs to do to close the gap.

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