Shadow AI Is a Corporate Liability: 66% of Workers Use Unauthorized AI Tools

A new global survey by PagerDuty reveals a widening gap between how employees adopt AI and what corporate policies actually allow. The PagerDuty Shadow AI Survey polled 1,250 office professionals at organizations with at least $500 million in annual revenue across Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and found that two-thirds of respondents have used AI tools not approved by their employer.

The risk runs deeper than unauthorized tool use. More than 30% of employees report sharing confidential company data with public AI models — behavior PagerDuty CTO Tim Armandpour described as a "massive enterprise liability."

"When over 30% of employees are putting confidential company data into public models, 'Shadow AI' becomes a massive enterprise liability," Armandpour said. "The goal for any executive today should not be to slow down AI adoption, but to redirect that energy into proven platforms that offer governance and automation at scale."

The findings point to a disconnect between worker confidence and corporate readiness. Office professionals report growing AI expertise, but company policies appear to lag behind the pace of adoption — creating measurable risks around data security, workforce trust, and talent retention.

Key Takeaways

• 66% of office professionals surveyed have used unauthorized AI tools at work
• More than 30% are sharing confidential company data with public AI models
• PagerDuty recommends redirecting AI adoption toward governed enterprise platforms, not restricting it
• Survey covered 1,250 respondents in non-IT roles at $500M+ organizations across four countries

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