6  ILLINOIS BUSINESS LEADER
6  ILLINOIS BUSINESS LEADER
FOCUS
Artificial intelligence (AI) is every­
where these days, including your 
workplace.
	
While there is no one-size-
fits-all AI policy that will work for 
every company, here are our general 
thoughts about how employers can 
constructively manage the use of AI.
The “Shadow IT” Problem
Many companies struggle with 
“shadow IT”—the unauthorized in­
formation technology some employ­
ees use to do their work.
	
Your shadow IT problem could 
be the employee who conducts video 
meetings on Zoom because they like 
it better than the video application 
your IT department supports. It 
could also be the employee who saves 
sensitive company information in 
their personal Dropbox or Github 
accounts to work on it from home.
	
While shadow IT might be 
caused by a well-meaning employee’s 
efforts to work more productively, 
it puts your confidential company 
information at a greater risk of com­
promise or theft.
AI Is a New Type of Shadow IT
The rollout of ChatGPT-4 and other 
human language-based AI products 
over the past two years has created a 
whole new world of shadow IT chal­
lenges for employers and their system 
administrators.
	
Your tech savvy employees are 
probably experimenting with the new 
AI tools to draft press releases, sum­
marize documents, transcribe sales 
calls, write computer code, or build 
spreadsheets. At the same time, your 
IT vendors are quickly introducing 
new AI capabilities into their service 
offerings (e.g., Google’s Gemini and 
Microsoft’s Co-Pilot) without clearly 
explaining how these programs han­
dle your company information.
What Can Employers Do About It?
While strictly prohibiting the use of 
AI tools in your workplace is always 
an option, doing so won’t stop the 
AI hype in the marketplace and may 
send the wrong message to your 
high-performing employees.
	
We instead recommend a cau­
tiously open-minded approach. As 
an employer, you should be willing to 
consider investing in technology that 
can demonstrably help your employ­
ees work smarter and faster. On the 
other hand, you and your employees 
have a shared responsibility to use 
AI tools in a way that protects your 
company’s digital and physical assets.
	
There are two important pieces 
of this strategy:
	
1. Regular, High-Quality Em­
ployee Training. AI should become 
a regular topic in your company’s 
security awareness program. Your 
Employment Law Update
Bringing AI Out of the Shadows: How to Manage 
the Use of AI in Your Workplace
By Rebecca Bush
Partner, Amundsen Davis
John B. Williams
Partner, Amundsen Davis
(Continued on page 11)

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