Detect unauthorized AI usage before it becomes a compliance risk
Gain visibility into shadow AI tools across your organization with automated detection, risk scoring, and governance workflows.
The challenge
You can't govern AI you don't know about
Employees adopt AI tools faster than governance teams can track. Every unauthorized AI tool is a potential compliance violation, data leak, or security vulnerability hiding in plain sight.
Employees sign up for AI tools with corporate email addresses, exposing sensitive data without IT or compliance awareness
No visibility into which departments are using which AI tools or what data flows through them
Regulatory auditors ask about your complete AI inventory, but shadow AI creates gaps you can't account for
When an AI vendor has a breach, you don't know if your organization was affected because the tool was never registered
AI adoption spreads virally across departments through word-of-mouth, outpacing governance processes
Manual discovery methods (surveys, audits) provide point-in-time snapshots that are outdated the moment they're completed
Benefits
Why use Shadow AI?
Key advantages for your AI governance program
Detect unauthorized AI tools and services across your organization
Score and prioritize shadow AI risks with automated assessment
Enforce governance policies on newly discovered AI usage
Maintain a real-time inventory of all AI tools in use
Capabilities
What you can do
Core functionality of Shadow AI
Automated detection
Continuously scan your environment to identify unauthorized AI tools, APIs, and services being used across departments.
Risk scoring engine
Automatically assess and score discovered AI tools based on data sensitivity, regulatory exposure, and organizational risk tolerance.
Governance workflows
Route newly discovered AI tools through approval workflows to either authorize, restrict, or block usage with full audit trail.
Usage analytics
Track adoption patterns, department-level usage, and trend data to understand how AI tools spread across your organization.
Why VerifyWise
Continuous visibility, not periodic audits
What makes our approach different
Always-on detection
Unlike periodic surveys or manual audits, VerifyWise continuously monitors for new AI tool adoption. You know about shadow AI within hours, not months.
Risk-based prioritization
Not all shadow AI is equal. Automated risk scoring helps you focus governance effort on the tools that pose the greatest compliance and security risk.
Governance, not just detection
Detection alone isn't enough. VerifyWise routes discovered tools through your existing approval workflows so every AI tool gets a governance decision.
Regulatory context
What regulations require
Regulatory frameworks increasingly require organizations to maintain complete AI inventories. Shadow AI directly undermines this requirement.
Organizations must ensure AI literacy and maintain oversight of AI systems in their environment. Undetected shadow AI makes compliance with this requirement impossible.
Deployers must implement human oversight measures for AI systems. Shadow AI operates without any human oversight or governance controls.
Organizations must identify and assess risks from AI systems within their scope. Shadow AI represents unidentified risk that falls outside the management system.
The GOVERN function requires organizations to establish governance structures for all AI systems. Shadow AI exists outside these structures by definition.
Technical details
How it works
Implementation details and technical capabilities
Continuous environment scanning for AI tool detection across SaaS, APIs, browser extensions, and local installations
Multi-dimensional risk scoring: data sensitivity, regulatory exposure, vendor trust, and usage volume
4 governance actions for discovered tools: Authorize, Restrict, Monitor, and Block
Department-level usage tracking with adoption trend analysis over time
Integration with AI registry for automatic cataloging of newly discovered tools
Policy enforcement engine that applies organizational rules to shadow AI automatically
Alerting system with configurable thresholds for new tool discovery and risk score changes
Historical discovery log with full audit trail of detection, assessment, and governance decisions
Supported frameworks
Integrations
FAQ
Common questions
Frequently asked questions about Shadow AI
More from Discover
Related capabilities
Other features in the Discover pillar
Ready to get started?
See how VerifyWise can help you govern AI with confidence.