A new PagerDuty survey has found that two-thirds of office professionals have used AI tools at work despite believing such usage was not permitted by company policy.
PagerDuty has published research highlighting growing tensions between employee adoption of AI tools and corporate governance policies, with many workers using AI applications without formal approval.
The findings underline the challenge organisations face in balancing AI innovation with governance, security and workforce expectations.
The PagerDuty Shadow AI Survey, conducted among 1,250 office professionals working in non-IT and technology roles at organisations with annual revenues exceeding US$500 million, found that 66% had used AI tools or services at work despite believing this was not allowed under company policy.
The research, which covered respondents in Australia, Japan, the UK and the US, suggests employees are increasingly confident in their AI skills but feel restricted by organisational controls.
Among respondents who admitted using potentially unauthorised AI tools, 53% said they received informal guidance to stop using them, while 48% faced formal consequences such as warnings or disciplinary action.
The survey also highlighted concerns about employee retention. According to the findings, 77% of respondents believe company restrictions on AI usage are limiting their professional development or career progression. Meanwhile, 75% said they would be likely to seek a new employer offering better AI skills development opportunities, rising to 80% among workers at organisations with revenues exceeding US$1 billion.
“When over 30% of employees are putting confidential company data into public models, ‘Shadow AI’ becomes a massive enterprise liability,” said Tim Armandpour, CTO, PagerDuty.
