Shadow AI Often Emerges When Workplace Technology Fails Employees
TechRadar Pro, Thursday, July 16th, 2026
TeamViewer's Patricia Leppert argues shadow AI is a symptom of digital friction, not employee misbehavior, and stricter blocking backfires.
Shadow AI is a genuine security risk, but treating it purely as a controls problem addresses the symptom rather than the cause.
Employees adopt unsanctioned tools because approved ones are slow, restricted or lacking functionality, and research cited shows 80% of employees lose time to dysfunctional IT, averaging 1.3 workdays per month.
Trust in IT is weak too: 62% doubt their IT team supplies current AI tools, 57% doubt fast issue resolution and 47% fear inadequate data protection.
The author calls for clear AI governance ownership spanning IT, legal, compliance, HR and leadership, plus specific and accessible guidance rather than abstract policy.
Security-by-design should extend to the digital workplace so the easiest path is also the secure one.