The Hidden Shadow AI Inside Every Company and How to Bring It Into the Light
The Story Behind LaunchPad
Six months ago, a CIO of a major bank told me something that stuck.
“I know my employees are using AI. I just don’t know where, how, or what they’re uploading. And honestly… that scares me more than the cyberattacks we plan for.”
He isn't alone.
In every industry, employees are rushing toward Generative AI faster than their organizations can keep up. They’ve tasted the speed, the ease, the superpower feeling of finishing work in minutes instead of hours.
And so began a quiet revolution inside enterprises.
A revolution leadership didn’t authorize.
A revolution leadership couldn't see.
A revolution leadership couldn’t control.
This is the story of Shadow AI—and how LaunchPad was born to fix it.
The First Signs of Shadow AI
It always starts innocently.
A team lead tries ChatGPT to rewrite a customer email.
A product analyst uses Gemini to summarize a requirements document.
A legal intern uploads a contract to ask for a quick explanation.
Nobody announces it. Nobody documents it. Nobody thinks twice.
But over time, this behavior spreads—quietly, invisibly—until one day, half the company is relying on unapproved AI tools without realizing they're exposing sensitive data.
Gartner says 69% of cybersecurity leaders now suspect unsanctioned AI usage inside their company.
And nearly 40% of enterprises will face security incidents tied to Shadow AI by 2030.
But here’s the surprising part—
Shadow AI doesn’t happen because employees are reckless.
It happens because employees are ambitious.
They want to move faster.
They want to do more.
They want to feel empowered.
When the organization doesn’t provide the tools, they find their own.
As one HR manager told us:
“We didn’t choose Shadow AI. It just filled the silence.”
The Day Shadow AI Became Real
At one client, a junior analyst uploaded internal audit comments into a public chatbot.
Why?
Because the deadline was tight.
Because no one had given her a safe alternative.
Because GenAI helped her finish the work in time.
She wasn’t negligent. She was resourceful.
But leadership saw it differently.
They realized they were one innocent prompt away from a compliance disaster.
That was the moment they called us.
Why Existing AI Tools Weren’t Enough
Enterprises tried everything:
Blocking public AI tools → employees routed around them
Buying business-tier AI subscriptions → still no workflows, no governance
Telling employees to “be careful” → not a real policy
Even the most advanced AI platforms suffered from the same issues:
They were blank chatboxes, not business tools.
They provided no workflow templates.
They didn’t control what data could be uploaded.
They didn’t enforce which model was appropriate for which task.
They had no visibility, no logs, no governance.
This gap wasn’t small—it was structural.
Enterprises needed something entirely new.
Not another chatbot.
Not another API.
Not another toy.
They needed a private, governed, configurable AI workspace designed for real operational work.
That’s when LaunchPad was born.
What LaunchPad Really Is
LaunchPad is not just a platform.
It’s a philosophy about how AI should work inside enterprises.
It says:
“AI should not be something employees sneak into.
AI should be something enterprises proudly enable.”
Here’s how LaunchPad reimagines AI usage:
1. It’s private
Private AI keys, your data, your rules.
2. It’s governed
Audit logs, compliance controls, department-level access.
3. It’s use case-first
Not “just ask me anything”—
but specific workflows like:
Review this contract
Generate test cases from this BRD
Summarize this financial report
Draft a job description
Compare two policy versions
Each with the right prompt, right model, and right guardrails built in.
4. It’s built for how enterprises actually work
Inputs are structured.
Outputs are consistent.
Usage is visible.
Data stays inside.
LaunchPad doesn’t try to replace people.
It makes their work radically easier, faster, and safer.
How LaunchPad Started Changing Organizations
When teams experience LaunchPad for the first time, something interesting happens.
They relax.
They stop worrying whether they’re allowed to use AI.
They stop second-guessing what they can or can’t upload.
They stop improvising prompts and start trusting workflows.
One project manager told us:
“This is the first time AI feels like part of my job, not a secret shortcut.”
Another said:
“I finish a whole week’s documentation in one afternoon. And my manager actually approves it.”
This isn’t productivity as a metric.
It’s productivity as freedom.
The Moment AI Becomes Enterprise-Ready
The real magic is when leadership finally sees the shift.
For the first time, they have:
Visibility into who’s using AI
Control over what data flows where
Confidence that employees follow approved workflows
Metrics showing hours saved and tasks accelerated
The assurance that regulatory risks are contained
AI stops being a risk.
AI becomes a competitive advantage.
The Future We’re Building
LaunchPad’s mission is simple:
To give every employee
the power of AI,
without giving away
the power of your data.
We imagine a world where:
AI is embedded in every workflow, not just chatbots
Enterprises deploy GenAI in 30 days, not 12 months
Compliance and productivity aren’t trade-offs
AI becomes the operating system of modern work
Shadow AI grows in silence.
LaunchPad replaces that silence with clarity.
If your employees are already using AI
it’s time to give them a safer way to do it.
That’s the story.
That’s LaunchPad.