Shadow IT With AI Means You Already Made a Choice
When a plant or commercial team lacks an approved AI option, they will paste specs, quotes, and emails into whatever is handy. Security agencies have warned that AI use introduces threats like data poisoning, input manipulation, privacy leakage, and hallucinations that require basic controls even for routine usage (CISA joint guidance, 2024). NIST’s Generative AI Profile gives a current map of the top risks and practical mitigations for users and deployers (NIST, 2024).
Where Risk Turns Into Liability
Trade secrets only exist if you take reasonable steps to keep them secret. Voluntary disclosure to third parties can destroy protection (USPTO, Trade Secret Policy). If an employee pastes unreleased formulation notes or pricing into a public chatbot, you may have weakened future claims.
Employment data is personal data. California confirmed that, as of January 1, 2023, CCPA as amended by CPRA applies to employees and job applicants, with required notices and request handling (California AG, 2023). Unmanaged AI prompts that contain HR or candidate details can therefore trigger privacy obligations.
Export rules also matter. Releasing certain controlled technology or drawings to foreign nationals, even inside the United States, can be a deemed export that requires a license (BIS, Deemed Export Rule). Defense technical data is tightly defined and disclosing it to foreign persons can be regulated under ITAR (eCFR, 22 CFR 120.10). A casual AI prompt that includes sensitive CAD content can cross these lines without anyone noticing.
Finally, claims about AI performance are policed. The FTC has recently ordered companies to substantiate AI marketing claims and accuracy assertions (FTC accessiBe order, 2025) and is actively probing AI markets (FTC 6(b) inquiry, 2024). If your sales team repeats unverified AI claims from a tool vendor, you inherit the reputational and regulatory exposure.
What This Looks Like On A Real Line
A technical services rep pastes a customer’s slab moisture test into a public assistant to draft a submittal. A controls tech uploads PLC function blocks seeking a code fix. A sales engineer asks a chatbot to rewrite a quote with margin assumptions. None of this is malicious. It is people moving fast to serve customers with limited time.
In practice, this can leak customer or employee data, reveal process know how, or move controlled information across borders. It also spawns inconsistent answers that your audit trail cannot reconstruct.
Governance First, Not Perfection
You do not need a moonshot. Give people an approved AI path that is good enough, observable, and simple. Use a small set of sanctioned tools, logged access, and clear red lines for sensitive data. NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework and Playbook are short, usable anchors for policy and documentation outcomes (NIST AI RMF Playbook, updated Feb 6, 2025). ISO has also published an AI management system standard that maps neatly to existing ISO style programs (ISO 42001, 2023).
If you build or fine tune models, NIST’s secure software guidance for GenAI extends the Secure Software Development Framework with concrete practices (NIST SP 800-218A overview, 2024). For routine plant use, combine narrow tasks with human review to keep error costs low.
Set Minimums So People Can Work
Publish short, practical essentials that managers can actually use:
- A one page acceptable use standard that bans pasting trade secrets, controlled tech data, and any HR or medical details. The ICO has noted that prompts can contain personal data and must be handled accordingly (ICO, 2024).
- A simple data labeling quick sheet for common artifacts in your business, like SDS, TDS, drawings, test reports, and bid docs.
- A vendor questionnaire tied to AI risks and privacy basics that sales and procurement can send on day one, aligned to NIST outcomes (NIST AI RMF Playbook).
- A short note reminding engineers that sharing controlled technology can be an export even if no file crosses a border (BIS, Deemed Export Rule).
If You Operate In Europe, Watch Dates
The EU AI Act entered into force on August 1, 2024. Prohibitions applied from February 2, 2025. Most rules for high risk uses and transparency start applying on August 2, 2026 (European Commission, 2025 timeline) (AI Act Service Desk, timeline). If your technical services chatbot helps specify products for schools or employment, expect extra diligence and documentation.
Make It Useful For Manufacturing Workflows
Start where value and risk both exist. In RFP and tender intake, let an approved assistant extract requirements and build a draft compliance matrix while humans verify citations. In quoting and CPQ, allow language polishing and accessory suggestions, then route edge cases to reviewers. In predictive maintenance and quality control AI, keep model outputs as recommendations with required sign off and clear confidence notes. This keeps speed gains while preserving accountability.
The Payoff For Busy Teams
Shadow AI creates invisible risk and uneven results. A thin, explicit approval path gives your people a safe, fast way to use AI where it helps, without gambling trade secrets, privacy, or compliance. You will not get perfect on day one. You will get control, auditability, and fewer surprises.
