TrustedTech Global and U.S. Data Reveals Senior Leaders Are the Biggest Source of Shadow AI Risk in Organizations

TrustedTech, a Microsoft Managed Partner and leading provider of Microsoft cloud solutions and IT modernization services, unveiled a striking paradox at the center of enterprise AI adoption: the most senior leaders in organizations are not only driving AI usage, but are also the most frequent users of unapproved tools, creating significant and largely unmonitored security risks.

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Organizations have been trying to control employee behavior, but what this data shows is that leadership teams are moving faster than the policies designed to guide them.

As organizations race to adopt AI technologies, the findings highlight a growing disconnect between policy and behavior at the highest levels of leadership. While companies continue to focus on controlling employee usage, TrustedTech’s data shows the real exposure is originating in the boardroom.

According to the report:

• 65% of global decision-makers and 67% of U.S. decision-maker level employees use unapproved AI tools, more than double those below decision-maker level
• 56% of global decision-makers are concerned about employees using Shadow AI while 60% of U.S. decision makers are concerned, despite being the most active users themselves
• 48% of global respondents use unapproved AI tools at work, rising to 49% in the U.S.
• 77% of employees acknowledge there are security or data privacy risks associated with unapproved AI usage, yet behavior remains unchanged
• 42% of decision-makers are concerned their AI usage is being monitored, compared to just 23% of junior employees
• 21% of global Shadow AI users do so because they don’t want their organizations to see or access their data – raising serious governance red flags

This combination of high usage, high awareness, and low adherence to policy underscores a critical issue: AI adoption is not being driven from the bottom up, it is being accelerated from the top down, often outside the boundaries of corporate governance.

“The conversation around AI risk has been focused in the wrong place,” said Julian Hamood, Founder of TrustedTech. “Organizations have been trying to control employee behavior, but what this data shows is that leadership teams are moving faster than the policies designed to guide them. When executives are using unapproved tools to move quickly, it creates a ripple effect across the entire organization.”

The findings suggest that senior leaders are not only aware of the risks associated with Shadow AI, but are actively participating in the very behaviors they seek to regulate. This dynamic creates a culture of mixed signals, where policies exist on paper but are not reflected in practice, leaving organizations exposed to data leakage, compliance gaps, and security vulnerabilities.

At the same time, the data reinforces that AI usage is no longer experimental, it is embedded in daily workflows. With nearly half of all professionals using unapproved tools and the vast majority acknowledging associated risks, organizations face an urgent need to rethink how they approach governance, visibility, and control.

“This isn’t about stopping AI adoption, it’s about bringing structure to something that’s already happening,” added Hamood. “Companies need visibility into how AI is being used across every level of the organization, especially at the leadership level, where the impact of decisions is the greatest.”

TrustedTech works with organizations to help them navigate this evolving landscape by providing the strategic guidance, governance frameworks, and technical expertise needed to adopt AI responsibly, ensuring that innovation does not come at the expense of security or compliance.

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