Shadow AI agents: how to find them and bring them in
Shadow AI agents are agents that teams set up on their own, with their own connections and keys, outside any central overview. They are the agent version of shadow IT.
They appear because AI works and people want it to work for them. Banning them rarely helps: the work moves to personal accounts instead. The goal is to make the approved way the easiest way.
Three common routes
From hidden agents to an approved list
How Deployed OS handles it
Deployed OS gives the whole company one approved connection to its systems, with each person’s own login. Admins see which systems are connected and who uses what, and every call is logged, so new agents grow inside the overview instead of outside it.
This is one of five controls every company needs for its agents. See all five in our guide to AI agent governance.
Questions about shadow AI agents
AI agents that teams or individuals set up on their own, with their own connections and keys, outside any central overview or approval.
They often run on personal accounts or shared keys with broad access, nobody knows what data they reach, and their actions leave no trace the company can see.
A ban usually moves the work to personal accounts. It works better to offer an approved way that is easier, move the useful agents onto it, and then close the old connections.
Ask the teams, check which connectors are switched on in your AI tools’ admin settings, and look for stored keys in automation tools. Then keep one list of approved agents.