Artificial intelligence (AI) is now everywhere in our professional lives: content generation, task automation, decision support, software development… The promises are appealing: higher productivity, lower costs, faster innovation. Yet behind these exciting opportunities, the use of AI, especially online tools (generative AI, coding assistants, analysis engines), raises real concerns. Because while AI is powerful, it is not risk free, particularly regarding confidentiality, intellectual property, and regulatory compliance.
1. Powerful tools… but external
Many AI tools used in companies today, whether for generating text, images or code, operate in the cloud. This means that the data you enter travels through external servers and, in many cases, may be stored, analyzed or used to train models.
This raises a fundamental question: do we really control what we hand over to these tools? Entering a client brief, technical documentation, source code or business processes into an AI chatbot is the same as transferring that information to a third party. Even if some vendors guarantee confidentiality, it is essential to check terms of use, privacy policies and contractual protections.
2. Risks for sensitive data and GDPR compliance
Uncontrolled use of AI can expose companies to GDPR violations. For example, providing AI tools with data that includes personal information (even indirectly identifiable) without consent or adequate safeguards qualifies as a breach.
In addition, transferring data to servers located outside the European Union (particularly in the United States) can create compliance issues, especially if legal guarantees are not respected.
3. Loss of control over intellectual property
Another underestimated risk is the loss or dilution of intellectual property rights. When feeding AI tools with internal creative or technical assets (briefs, code, mockups, document templates), it becomes difficult to ensure that these elements will not be reused, reinjected in future model outputs, or even exposed to other users through similar prompts.
AI-generated outputs also raise complex legal questions: who owns a text or visual created by an AI? The tool provider? The user? The model developer? These grey areas require careful consideration.
4. A need for governance and clear guidelines
Given these challenges, companies must adopt a proactive and responsible approach. This includes:
- Raising awareness among teams about risks related to unregulated AI use
- Implementing internal policies or charters defining allowed tools, limits and proper usage
- Evaluating AI tools before adoption by analyzing data handling, server location and contractual guarantees
- Supervising AI-generated outputs to avoid bias, errors or unintended violations of rights or regulations
5. Moving toward ethical, secure and controlled AI
AI is not dangerous in itself. It is an exceptional driver of innovation and efficiency, as long as it is used wisely. The goal is not to avoid it, but to integrate it methodically, assessing risks and protecting what makes a company valuable: its data, its know-how, its clients.
Vigilance is essential. The more powerful the tools become, the more they can ingest, reproduce and spread sensitive information without the user fully realizing it.
AI is a revolution in motion, but its adoption must never come at the expense of security, compliance and responsibility. Resisting shortcuts is how companies avoid costly risks and build sustainable adoption.
Etixio helps you integrate AI with confidence. Contact us to discuss your needs.
