Another Day, Another Unapproved AI Tool in Production
It's 8:36 AM. You're reviewing last night's alerts when Slack lights up. Marketing just gave Claude access to your entire customer database. No ticket. No security review. Just someone trying to "analyze customer sentiment at scale."
Your coffee isn't even cold yet.
We Need to Talk About What's Actually Happening
Forget the vendor FUD about "shadow AI risks" and "governance frameworks." Let's talk about what you're actually dealing with every day:
Monday: Sales uploads your pricing database to ChatGPT to "generate competitive battlecards"
Tuesday: New intern commits API keys for three different AI services to GitHub
Wednesday: Finance connects an AI tool to your ERP system to "streamline quarterly reports"
Thursday: That AI code assistant everyone's using? Yeah, it's sending your codebase to servers in who-knows-where
Friday: CEO forwards you an article about how AI will "transform everything" and asks why we're "moving so slowly"
You're not paranoid. You're not behind the times. You're one person trying to secure a dozen new attack vectors that didn't exist six months ago.
Why This Isn't Your Fault
The entire industry is gaslighting you right now. They're saying you need to "embrace AI" while giving you zero tools to do it safely. It's like being asked to build a plane while it's taking off, except the plane is on fire and passengers keep adding new engines mid-flight.
Here's what you're up against:
The Speed Differential
Time to sign up for new AI tool: 30 seconds
Time to properly vet an AI tool: 2-3 weeks minimum
Number of new AI tools released while you're vetting one: 47
The Access Problem
Every AI tool wants to be helpful. So helpful that they request:
Full Google Workspace access
GitHub repository permissions
Slack message history
Database read access
"Oh, and admin rights would really help us serve you better!"
One OAuth flow later, and some AI startup has more access to your infrastructure than your senior engineers.
The Logging Black Hole
Traditional SIEM tools are useless here. AI services generate different events, use different formats, and half of them don't even have proper audit logs. Your security team is basically running blind while everyone asks you to "just set it up faster."
The Brutal Truth About Your Options
Option 1: Lock Everything Down
Sure, block all AI tools. Watch your best engineers leave for companies that don't. See productivity tank. Get blamed for "stifling innovation." Eventually get overruled by leadership anyway.
Option 2: Let It Ride
Embrace the chaos. Accept that company data is probably training some model right now. Hope your cyber insurance covers "AI-related incidents" (spoiler: it doesn't). Update your resume.
Option 3: The Middle Path That's Killing You
Try to review every tool. Share policies nobody reads. Send emails about "approved AI tools" that are outdated before you hit send. Slowly burn out while the problem gets worse.
What Would Actually Help (But Probably Won't Happen)
In a perfect world, here's what we'd have:
SSO for Everything
One deprovisioning, all AI access gone. But no, every AI startup thinks they're special and needs their own auth system.
Actual Audit Logs
Not just "user logged in" but "user uploaded customer_database.csv containing 50k records with PII." Real logs. Structured data. Searchable.
Sandboxed Execution
AI tools run in isolated environments. No persistent access. No storing credentials. Ephemeral containers for everything.
Cost Controls That Work
Not just "alert me when we hit $10k" but "shut it down at $10k." Per user. Per department. With no way for end users to override.
The Uncomfortable Questions Nobody's Asking
What happens when an employee leaves?
How many AI tools still have their credentials? (You know the answer is "too many.")
Where is your data right now?
Not philosophically. Literally. Which servers, in which countries, accessible by which employees of which AI companies?
Who's liable when AI makes a mistake?
When the AI-generated code has a security flaw, or the AI-written contract has a loophole, who's getting fired?
What's your incident response plan for AI?
"We'll figure it out when it happens" isn't a plan.
So What Now?
Look, I'm not here to sell you something or pretend there's an easy fix. The truth is, we're all figuring this out in real-time. But here's what's keeping some of us (slightly) sane:
Start with Visibility
You can't control what you don't know. Even a spreadsheet of "known AI tools in use" is better than nothing.
Pick Your Battles
You can't secure everything. Focus on the tools touching customer data or production systems. Let marketing play with their social media AI tools.
Automate What You Can
If you're manually reviewing every AI tool, you've already lost. Find ways to automate the obvious stuff.
Document Everything
When (not if) something goes wrong, you want a paper trail showing you raised concerns.
Find Your Allies
You're not alone. Other IT folks are dealing with this too. Share war stories. Share solutions. Share bourbon recommendations.
The Bottom Line
You're not crazy. This is hard. Really hard. The entire industry is moving at light speed while expecting you to provide enterprise-grade security with consumer-grade tools and PhD-level documentation.
It's okay to feel overwhelmed. It's okay to not have all the answers. It's okay to admit that the current situation is unsustainable.
What's not okay is pretending everything's fine while the house burns down around us.
Dealing with AI chaos in your org? Drop us a line at hello@trydam.io - sometimes it helps just knowing you're not the only one drowning.
P.S. - If your CEO just forwarded you another "AI is the future" article, this one's for you. 🍺