Shadow AI register & AI usage policy generator

Most teams already run more AI tools than anyone has written down, and almost none have a policy for them. This tool fixes both, in your browser. First, build a register of every AI tool in use, with its vendor, the data it receives, whether a Data Processing Agreement is signed, and its EU AI Act risk tier, and export it as a clean CSV or Markdown file. Then generate a ready-to-paste internal AI usage policy from your company size, sector and the rules you actually want. Nothing is uploaded. That is the point: your shadow-AI inventory is exactly the kind of thing you do not want to type into someone else's server.

1. Build your AI tool register

Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

List every AI tool actually in use, including the unofficial ones. For each, capture what data it receives, whether a Data Processing Agreement is signed, and its EU AI Act risk tier. The export becomes the evidence an auditor or a client security questionnaire asks for.

Tool nameVendorWhat data is sent to itData Processing Agreement signed?EU AI Act risk tierMost productivity assistants. No system-specific obligations beyond AI literacy.

Tools registered

Without a signed DPA

High-risk or prohibited

Tool	Vendor	Data sent	DPA	Risk tier
ChatGPT	OpenAI	Drafts, prompts, occasional pasted documents	No	Limited / transparency
GitHub Copilot	GitHub / Microsoft	Source code context from the editor	Yes	Minimal

Turn this register into living evidence

Automate vendor reviews and AI evidence for SOC 2 and ISO 27001 with a compliance platform.

A static spreadsheet goes stale the day after you make it. A compliance-automation platform keeps a live vendor inventory, chases each vendor for its DPA and security documents, and maps your AI tools to the SOC 2 and ISO 27001 controls an auditor checks. If you are heading into an audit, that is the work it removes. We are applying to the Vanta partner program through PartnerStack; Drata and Secureframe sell the same class of platform if you would rather compare.

See Vanta for AI and vendor evidence (coming soon)

Affiliate link. Until the partnership is approved this points to a clearly marked placeholder, not a tracked link. We only recommend the category because keeping a vendor register current by hand is genuinely the tedious part.

2. Generate your AI usage policy

Answer a few questions and the tool assembles a complete internal AI usage policy you can paste into your handbook. The wording changes with your choices, so the rules on personal data, code and approval match what you actually allow.

Company nameCompany sizeSectorWho owns and approves AI use

Rules

Personal data may be entered into approved, DPA-covered toolsLeave off for a stricter no-personal-data rule.Source code may go into approved, no-training AI assistantsLeave off to ban code entirely.A new tool needs approval before useLeave off for a register-and-notify model instead.

Live preview

Updates as you type

# Your company AI Usage Policy

Version 1.0. Effective 2026-06-30. Owner: your manager.

## 1. Purpose and scope
This policy sets out how everyone at Your company (11 to 50 people) may use generative and other AI tools for work. It applies to all employees, contractors and freelancers, on any device, when handling company or client information.

## 2. Approved use
You may use AI tools to draft, summarise, brainstorm, translate, and to assist with research, provided you:
- treat every AI output as a draft and review it for accuracy before use;
- stay accountable for the final work, exactly as if no AI had been involved;
- do not present AI output as fact without checking it against a reliable source.

## 3. Data you must never enter into an AI tool
Do not paste, upload or otherwise send the following to any AI tool that is not on the approved register and covered by a Data Processing Agreement:
- personal data of any kind (names tied to other data, emails, identifiers, customer or employee records);
- secrets, credentials and API keys (source code is permitted only in approved, no-training tools, see section 5);
- trade secrets, unreleased financials, board material or anything under NDA;
- special-category data (health, biometric, political, religious) unless a tool is explicitly contracted for it.

## 4. Personal data and the GDPR
Do not process personal data in AI tools. If a task seems to need it, stop and request an approved, contracted tool through the route in section 6 first.

## 5. Source code and intellectual property
AI code assistants may be used only on the enterprise tier of an approved tool with a written guarantee that input is not used for training. Never paste secrets or credentials. You remain responsible for the licence and security of any code an AI suggests.

## 6. Approval and the tool register
Before using a new AI tool for work, get written approval from your manager. Approved tools are recorded in the company AI register, with their vendor, the data they may receive, whether a Data Processing Agreement is signed, and their EU AI Act risk tier. Using an unapproved tool for company or client data is a policy breach.

## 7. EU AI Act awareness
The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) bans some uses outright (Article 5), heavily regulates high-risk uses such as hiring, credit and biometric identification (Annex III), and requires transparency for chatbots and generated content (Article 50). Everyone must complete basic AI literacy. If your work uses AI in a high-risk area, raise it before you proceed.

## 8. Transparency and human oversight
Tell colleagues or clients when a deliverable was materially produced with AI, where that matters for trust. A human, not an AI, makes any decision that affects a person, their rights or their money.

## 9. Breaches
Report a suspected breach (for example confidential data entered into the wrong tool) to your manager as soon as you notice it, so it can be contained. Honest, prompt reporting is treated as a positive, not a fault.

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Generated with the free Shadow AI Register & Policy tool at agent.mue.app on 2026-06-30. A starting template, not legal advice. Have it reviewed for your jurisdiction before adopting.

Everything on this page runs in your browser. The register and the policy never leave your device except as the files you choose to download. This is a starting template and an organisational aid, not legal advice. Have your policy reviewed for your jurisdiction before you adopt it.

What shadow AI is, and why a register matters

Shadow AI is the AI your people use without anyone signing off on it: a chatbot to rewrite an email, an image generator for a deck, a coding assistant in someone's editor. None of it is malicious. It is just faster than asking. The problem is that each tool quietly receives data, and nobody has a single list of which tools, which data, and under what contract. The moment a client sends a security questionnaire, or you start a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 project, that missing list becomes the blocker. A register is the cheapest fix: one honest table of what is in use.

How to fill in the register

Add a row per tool. The two fields people skip are the ones that matter most. Data sent is your shorthand for what actually leaves the building: marketing drafts are low stakes, customer records or source code are not. DPA signed records whether you have a Data Processing Agreement with the vendor, which is what makes it lawful to send personal data to them under the GDPR. The EU AI Act risk tier is your own classification of the tool, using the Act's four bands. Most office assistants are minimal or limited risk; a tool used to screen job applicants or assess credit is high-risk and carries real obligations.

The four EU AI Act risk tiers in plain terms

Prohibited (Article 5): uses the Act bans outright, such as social scoring or untargeted scraping of faces. If a tool does this, the fix is not paperwork, it is to stop using it.
High-risk (Annex III): AI used for hiring, credit, biometric identification, critical infrastructure and similar. These carry the full conformity regime: risk management, logging, human oversight and documentation.
Limited / transparency (Article 50): chatbots and content generators. The core duty is to tell people they are interacting with AI or looking at AI-generated output.
Minimal: everything else, which is most productivity tooling. No system-specific obligations beyond the AI-literacy duty that applies to everyone.

Why the policy and the register go together

The register tells you what is happening. The policy sets the rules so the right things keep happening. The generator here does not hand you generic boilerplate: the wording changes with your answers. Say personal data is not allowed and the policy bans it outright; allow it and the policy ties it to an approved, DPA-covered tool with a lawful basis. The same is true for source code and for whether a new tool needs sign-off before use. Sector choice adds the clauses that matter for finance, healthcare, legal, public sector or software teams.

How this differs from our SOC 2 / ISO 27001 estimator

Our SOC 2 / ISO 27001 readiness and cost estimator answers a money question: what will the audit cost and how long will it take. This tool answers an operational one: getting your AI use written down and governed so it is ready when an auditor, a client or a regulator asks. They pair naturally. Scope the audit with one, operationalise AI governance with the other.

Who this is for

Founders, operations leads, security and compliance people, and anyone who has just realised the team is using a dozen AI tools and there is no list and no policy. Start with the register, generate the policy, and you have the two artifacts most AI-governance conversations begin with. Browse our other tools for the rest of the program.

This is a starting template and an organisational aid, not legal advice. Have the policy reviewed for your jurisdiction before you adopt it.

Shadow AI questions, answered

What is shadow AI?

Shadow AI is the AI tooling people use for work without anyone formally signing off on it, such as a chatbot to rewrite an email, an image generator for a deck, or a coding assistant in an editor. It is usually well intentioned and faster than asking for approval, but each tool quietly receives company or client data and no one keeps a single list of which tools get which data under what contract. That gap becomes a blocker the moment a client sends a security questionnaire or you start a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 project. This tool helps you surface that usage into one honest register and a matching usage policy.

Why does a company need an AI usage policy?

A register tells you what AI is actually in use, and a policy sets the rules so the right things keep happening: what data may go into which tools, when personal data or source code is allowed, and whether a new tool needs sign-off first. Without written rules, staff have to guess where the line is, which is how confidential data ends up in the wrong tool. The policy this tool generates changes with your answers on company size, sector and the rules you choose, and includes an EU AI Act awareness section. It is a starting template and an organisational aid, not legal advice, so have it reviewed for your jurisdiction before adopting it.

What is an AI register?

An AI register is a single table of every AI tool your team uses, recording for each one the vendor, the data sent to it, whether a Data Processing Agreement is signed, and its EU AI Act risk tier. A signed Data Processing Agreement is what makes it lawful to send personal data to a vendor under the GDPR, and the risk tier uses the EU AI Act's four bands as your own classification of each tool. Keeping this register current is the cheapest way to be ready when an auditor, client or regulator asks what AI you run. This tool builds the register in your browser and exports it as CSV or Markdown, with nothing uploaded.

More compliance and EU AI Act tools

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