A recent Torii report analyzed how businesses are managing a rise in "shadow IT" and artificial intelligence (AI) driven tools. 

Most businesses today recognize the threat of Shadow AI — unsanctioned AI use outside IT governance —  but few realize how pervasive it already is. Because these tools often rely on proprietary company data, they pose significant security and compliance risks, and since they often use a consumption-based pricing model, they can undermine cost management.

Importantly, while some instances of Shadow AI are new apps, many are AI-driven features within already approved software. Yet despite these differences, in many ways, Shadow AI is simply the next chapter in the same story of software governance.

Fifty-four percent of managed applications are classified as shadow IT. As software portfolios continue to expand, Shadow AI has fueled much of the 21% increase in total app counts across five company sizes since Q1 2024, intensifying visibility and cost challenges for IT teams.

The report found that the top four most frequently unmanaged apps are 100% AI-driven tools, with four of the next five also AI-dependent. This unchecked AI adoption outside IT oversight makes cost tracking nearly impossible due to unpredictable consumption-based pricing models.

Sixty-one percent of SaaS applications are inactive, yet companies continue paying for them. Many of these applications have had no active users in the last 30 days, yet they still carry active, paid licenses.

Read the report.