Over half of UK businesses (51%) fear employees are feeding sensitive company data into unauthorised AI tools, as businesses face a growing challenge in maintaining visibility and control over AI deployment, new research from Turbotic shows.
The study, which surveyed more than 1,000 senior decision-makers involved in setting and assessing AI projects in UK businesses, also shed light on the prevalence of Shadow AI, where employees use AI tools without formal approval or oversight. Here, nearly nine in 10 (88%) said they believed it was being used within their organisation, with IT departments showing the highest reported use of unauthorised AI at 36%, followed by customer service (30%), marketing (28%) and sales (27%).
Alongside concerns around staff sharing sensitive data with AI, other top worries included regulatory or compliance breaches (38%), employees using AI without management oversight (36%) and inaccurate or unreliable AI-generated information influencing business decisions (35%).
Despite its intensive use, more than a quarter (27%) of respondents - all of whom have direct involvement in their organisation’s AI initiatives and deployment decisions - said they were not familiar with the term ‘Shadow AI’ before the survey, showing that awareness is lagging behind adoption.
The research highlights the challenges that can emerge as businesses move AI from experimentation into wider use, with some 64% saying most or all of their organisation’s AI pilot projects had progressed into day-to-day business operations.
For Theodore Bergqvist, CEO and Co-founder of Turbotic, Shadow AI is showing how quickly adoption can outpace visibility and oversight, and this is where businesses need to pay closer attention.
He comments: “Our research, as we expected, shows that AI is already being used across UK businesses and more are keen to move on from the pilot stage into full-blown integration. But what did surprise us is that, as adoption is increasing, just how many organisations don’t know which tools their people are using, what data is being put into them, whether AI is influencing a business decision, or even what the term Shadow AI means. That’s a huge problem when it comes to properly managing the risks that come with AI use, and encouraging more adoption will only make the problem harder to manage.
“If organisations want AI to become part of everyday business, they need to first treat visibility, governance and trust as part of deployment, not something to bolt on afterwards. And this responsibility must sit not with employees, but with leadership, who need to be creating an environment where people know what they can use, what they can’t, and why.”
The findings are the first to emerge from a wider Turbotic study into why UK businesses struggle to move AI from pilots into day-to-day operations, with further insights from the research to follow.
* The survey was carried out online by Research Without Barriers between 13th July 2026 and 21st July 2026. The sample comprised 1,004 senior respondents involved in setting and assessing AI projects in UK businesses (10+ employees).
