The use of AI in businesses across all industries has exploded, leading to dramatic growth in productivity and innovation. Actually, 75% of knowledge workers are currently using AI to some extent. By 2030, global AI-connected activity is expected to grow by one An additional $13 trillion as workers use AI to boost creativity, automate data-intensive tasks and help manage information overload.
However, without company-wide rules on how, when and where AI can be used, employees independently make decisions about how and when to use AI. Sometimes this takes the form of asking an online AI chatbot to perform searches or use AI tools built into productivity apps, or it may mean employees running AI tools without getting information. explicit permission.
“Shadow AI,” like other shadow IT, puts the entire organization at risk due to data corruption and exfiltration, while opening the door to potential cyber threats. Data protection is a major issue for business and cybersecurity leaders; in fact, it is a major concern for 95% of decision-makers.
To overcome these challenges, organizations are turning to AI-powered productivity tools designed from the ground up to be secure, like Microsoft 365 Copilot, and solutions that can help identify and mitigate these risks, like Microsoft Purview. Tools like these are even more effective because they work together to change the conversation from “How do we limit AI?” to “How can we use AI to be more effective?” And more secure?
Learn how to help every business user harness the revolutionary power of AI safely. Download the latest version from Microsoft Data Security Index Report NOW.
AI risks and reactions
Concerns about AI have led to resistance to its use in the workplace, with nearly half of cybersecurity managers hopes to continue banning all use of generative AI for the foreseeable future.
In a Microsoft survey of data security professionals, 43% of organizations said a lack of controls to detect and mitigate risks was a major concern. Data concerns around the use of AI arise from risks that include:
- Protect sensitive data and intellectual property from internal and external leaks
- Hallucinations and inaccuracies in AI tool results
- Allow AI tools to access and share proprietary data
- Bias or other ethical issues in training AI systems
While these issues need to be addressed, it is equally important to find effective ways to integrate AI into workflows. With the right strategy and tools, both of these goals (security and productivity) can be achieved without disrupting the flow of business.
Start with business drivers, not just technology
Security, governance, and ultimately trust in systems must come from how best to empower users, and realistic limits can be set. In other words, instead of looking at AI solely as a technology, look at what users need to accomplish, then see if AI is the best way to achieve those goals. If so, governance and security guidelines can be updated to reflect how people can do business most efficiently.
Here’s a mundane but realistic test case: email. Microsoft 365 users frequently experience email overload. For comparison, 85% of emails are read in less than 15 seconds, and on average, people read four emails for every email sent, according to the Microsoft study. Labor Trends Index Annual Report 2024. AI can sort content into threads and can also summarize content, allowing users to read, understand and respond more quickly.
Supporting productivity gains through AI is only part of the equation. The other is where AI is deployed and what information it can access and share. An ecosystem that provides both makes it exponentially easier to manage, deploy and secure AI-based solutions across the enterprise.
Unified solutions keep users productive and prevent data from falling through the cracks.
Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview, for example, work together to create a secure yet highly productive business environment. Microsoft Copilot automatically inherits your organization’s security, compliance, and privacy policies for Microsoft 365. This is crucial because as the organization adopts AI tools that integrate with Microsoft 365, it can be difficult to know exactly where data can flow between applications.
As organizations adopt AI tools and integrate Microsoft 365, it can be difficult to know the full journey of the data, including what applications it will go into and who will be able to access it. Labeling data based on who can interact with it is essential to preventing overexposure. Working in sync, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview:
- Permission models within Microsoft 365 services, including Microsoft Copilot, ensure appropriate user access. Microsoft Copilot blocks restricted data to prevent content oversharing and data privacy issues.
- The Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner helps detect oversharing, while Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention prevents sensitive data from being pasted into AI prompts.
- Microsoft Purview AI Hub provides insights into unlabeled files and Microsoft SharePoint sites referenced by Microsoft 365, allowing users to prioritize data risks.
This fully synchronized approach to security reduces the risks of implementing AI while allowing users to quickly see results. This not only protects the organization’s data, systems and people, but also helps ensure compliance – a must for highly regulated businesses, but equally important for any business looking to accelerate its processes, respond more quickly to changing conditions and enable greater productivity, efficiency, and innovation.
Learn how to help every business user harness the revolutionary power of AI safely. Download the latest version from Microsoft Data Security Index Report NOW.