When “Yes, We Use AI” Isn’t a Good Enough Answer
Not long ago, if you asked a client where their AI was being used across the organization, you’d get a squishy response geared towards proving they were moving in the right direction with AI, but little strategic thought.
The answer?
“Oh, we’re definitely using AI. We have Copilot in Teams. And someone in marketing built a GPT for customer responses. Also, I think finance is using ChatGPT for forecasting now. Or maybe it was supply chain?”
That’s not a strategy. That’s a breadcrumb trail.
And yet this is how AI lives in most organizations today: fragmented, unsupervised, and undocumented.
So here’s the real question:
If someone audited your AI tomorrow, could you explain where it lives, who owns it, what it does, and what risks it introduces?
Because that audit isn’t hypothetical anymore.
Shadow AI” Is Real, and It’s Growing
AI is already woven into every corner of business, from Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics and Excel to custom GPTs built by employees and third-party plugins no one even remembers installing.
The result?
Most companies now have:
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No centralized inventory of where AI is being used
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No documentation of the models, data sources, or expected behavior
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No defined process to assess or correct inaccurate or biased outputs
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No governance over what employees are doing with AI tools
We used to worry about “shadow IT.” Now we’re living in the era of “shadow AI”.
What a Real AI Audit Will Look Like
Whether it’s from a regulator, a customer, or your own board of directors, here’s what’s coming:
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What models are you using? Proprietary? Open source? Custom GPTs?
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Where is AI embedded in your workflows? Hiring, finance, supply chain?
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What data is it trained on? And is that data secure and compliant?
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Is there a human in the loop? Or are decisions being made unchecked?
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Are vendors using AI on your behalf? If so, who’s responsible when something goes wrong?
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Can you show bias controls, accuracy testing, and usage logs?
In short: they’ll want to know if your AI is safe, legal, and aligned with your values, not just useful.
Why It’s Coming (Faster Than You Think)
The pressure is mounting from all sides:
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Governments: The EU AI Act is now law. U.S. regulators are pushing AI risk disclosures. Enforcement is no longer a matter of “if.”
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Investors: ESG and risk disclosures increasingly require AI governance clarity.
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Customers: Enterprise buyers are asking about responsible AI in RFPs and contracts.
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Legal teams: In-house counsel are trying to get ahead of hallucinations, bias, and liability.
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Reputation risk: One rogue AI response could hit the headlines, or get you subpoenaed.
AI is no longer just a tech issue. It’s a board-level concern.
What You Should Be Doing Right Now
Here’s how smart organizations are getting ready:
Map Your AI Footprint
Inventory where AI is being used: licensed, shadow, open-source, or otherwise.
Assign Accountability
Every AI tool needs a human owner, just like any other system of record.
Audit for Risk
Review model behavior, data lineage, hallucination exposure, and bias.
Train Your People
Most AI misuse comes from misunderstanding, not malice. Educate widely.
Build a Governance Plan
Don’t wait for regulators to tell you what’s reasonable. Get ahead of it.
How Mazik Can Help
At Mazik, we’ve already started building frameworks to help organizations:
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Document and map their AI environments
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Create auditable records for internal and external review
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Embed human-in-the-loop checkpoints into AI workflows
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Offer pre-built AI risk and governance modules for Dynamics environments
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Train cross-functional teams to work safely and effectively with AI
We also help companies augment their teams with AI-literate staff, not just developers, but compliance experts, analysts, and change managers who know how to make these tools work responsibly.
Final Thought
We’re not sounding the alarm to slow you down. Just the opposite.
If you want to stay competitive in an AI-enabled market, you’ll need to move faster than ever, but smarter than before.
And that means knowing exactly what AI is doing across your business… before someone else demands to know.
The AI audit is coming. Would you like to be ready to pass?
