The constant evolution of technology has brought many positive advantages in the workplace, especially in areas of communication, productivity, and information access. This, however, also increases workplace deviance as employees gain access to systems, information, and digital tools. Gaining these types of access creates a window of opportunity for intentional misuse or poor judgment in technology usage. Due to this, companies not only have to consider cybersecurity threats, but also employee behavior that creates an avenue for security risks stemming from within. One example of workplace deviance related to cybersecurity or technology use is the growing trend of using unauthorized artificial intelligence tools for work-related tasks.

Without the presence of security measures that block the ability to use unauthorized artificial intelligence tools, an employee could take company data or secured emails and copy them to a public A.I. platform for the purpose of simplifying, summarizing, or completing a task. This creates a security risk to the company, as the public A.I. platform would now have access to confidential company or customer data. The biggest factor that contributes to this behavior would be workplace pressure for employees to work faster or more efficiently. Without A.I. governance in place that outlines rules or consequences, this behavior could quickly become the norm across the board for all employees. As a result, the potential consequences could be dire to the company, as exposed confidential information could affect customers, employees, and the company’s reputation. The exposed information could also have compliance or legal ramifications that could be detrimental to the company. The use of A.I. platforms to help with productivity and efficiency has many benefits and should be embraced by organizations. Some strategies that can be used to reduce this type of workplace deviance while strengthening cybersecurity practices are for organizations to provide their own approved internal A.I. tools, such as Copilot, develop a clear A.I. usage policy, and establish a business security framework such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP). By incorporating these strategies, this type of workplace deviance would no longer be a threat to organizations, while also helping employees to increase how they embrace and trust A.I. to become more efficient and productive in their roles.