Find out which AI tools touch your business information, who owns them, and what to review before access expands.
Start with the work, not just the product name
An AI inventory is a record of how your business uses AI. A list of software subscriptions is a useful starting point, but it may miss assistants built into existing products, browser extensions, personal accounts and small automations created by individual teams.
Begin with one department and ask people to walk through a normal task. Where do they draft, summarise, search, translate or automate? Record the actual workflow. Two teams can use the same product with very different information and permissions. A public marketing draft is different from analysing a confidential customer file.
Create one record for each meaningful use case
Keep the first version simple enough for an owner to maintain. A shared register can work if access is appropriate and responsibility is clear. Record the decision context rather than collecting technical detail that nobody will use.
- Business task and accountable owner.
- Tool, provider, account type and people using it.
- Information entered, uploaded, retrieved or produced.
- Connected systems and the actions the tool can perform.
- Approval status, restrictions and next review date.
For example, “summarise support tickets” should identify which tickets are accessible, whether personal information is included and whether the assistant only drafts a reply or can send it. That distinction matters when deciding who should approve the use.
Follow the information beyond the prompt
Ask what happens before and after someone types a request. A tool may retrieve documents, retain conversation history, write an output to a shared folder or pass information to another service. Review the relevant provider documentation and account settings instead of assuming that every account has the same protections.
Identify information that should not enter the workflow. Then decide whether the task can be completed with less data, a redacted sample or an approved internal source. The inventory should point to the evidence behind a decision, such as a configuration review or an agreed handling rule.
Separate an approved experiment from approved operational use
A small pilot with test data does not automatically justify access to live customer records. Define the purpose, users and boundaries of a trial. Before expanding it, check whether the information, integration or authority has changed.
Use understandable decisions: approved for the stated use, approved with conditions, under review, or not approved. Record the reason and the person who can revisit it. A decision without an owner can become an accidental permanent exception.
Review when the workflow changes
Useful triggers include adding a connector, enabling an agent, changing account plans, introducing a new data source or allowing a tool to send messages. A scheduled review can catch quieter changes, but it should not replace a review when access materially expands.
Ask the owner to demonstrate the current workflow and compare it with the record. Close unused accounts and remove unnecessary connections through the normal change process. Treat the register as a working decision aid rather than a document produced once for an audit.
Questions to bring to your next team meeting
- Which AI-assisted task would stop if this tool were unavailable?
- What is the most sensitive information it can access?
- Who can approve a new connection or a wider permission?
- How would we notice an unintended disclosure or action?
- Who can suspend the workflow and contact the right people?
These questions expose missing ownership without requiring everyone to become an AI specialist. Start with the most consequential workflows, then extend the same approach to the rest of the business.
Take the next step
Turn these questions into a focused discussion with the people responsible for your systems and business processes. Explore our related guidance or talk to a security specialist.
Further reading
NCSC assessment: AI and the cyber threat. The inventory approach above is practical planning guidance; adapt it to your own systems and responsibilities.