ChatGPT, Grammarly, Gemini, Copilot — free and paid AI tools get adopted from the bottom up, tool by tool, often with company data pasted straight in. That’s shadow AI: the single biggest AI blind spot for most organizations. GOVERNBOX.ai helps you find it, account for it, and bring it under management — without pretending you can ban it.
Why shadow AI is dangerous
The problem isn’t that staff use AI — it’s that no one can see it, no one owns it, and no one set the rules. That’s how a helpful shortcut becomes a data breach, a compliance finding, or a headline.
A staffer pastes a client contract, patient note, or donor list into a free AI tool to 'summarize it.' You have no record it ever happened.
Tools adopted bottom-up have nobody accountable for how they're used, what they're trained on, or when they go wrong.
Individual AI subscriptions get expensed one at a time across teams — duplicated, unmanaged, and invisible to whoever owns the budget.
The first question in any AI review is 'name every AI tool you use.' Shadow AI is exactly the answer most organizations can't give.
A practical path
You don’t need a security team or a monitoring appliance. You need visibility, clear rules, and a record — all of which GOVERNBOX.ai gives you out of the box.
Build an honest inventory of every AI tool actually in use — the approved ones and the shadow ones — each with a named owner and the data it touches.
Publish a plain-language acceptable-use standard: which tools are okay, and exactly what data may and may not be pasted into them. Staff stop guessing.
Roll out short training and collect an attestation from each employee — so 'I didn't know the rule' stops being an excuse, and you have proof they acknowledged it.
Give staff a clear way to report an AI mistake or a data slip, and keep an incident log so a one-off scare becomes a tracked, closed-out event.
The payoff
Protect client and company data, stop paying for redundant tools, and be ready to answer a customer security questionnaire about your AI use — without a scramble.
Safeguard donor and constituent information, preserve public trust, and show your board you know exactly how staff use AI — stewardship you can evidence.
Banning AI just drives it further underground. Give staff approved tools and clear rules, and you get the productivity without the blind spots.
Transparent pricing
Start free. Upgrade when you’re ready to generate and export. Cancel anytime.
Prices below are for the AI Governance module — the first of four GOVERNBOX modules. See modular pricing →
Credit card required · $0 today · converts to Starter ($3,500/yr — $291.66/mo equivalent) on day 15 unless canceled
| Feature | Free | Starter | Pro Most Popular | Agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Platform | ||||
| AI Readiness Scorecard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Use Case Log (inventory + named owner per system) | — | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| EU AI Act risk tier classification + Art. 5 prohibited-use screen | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Dashboard — My Workspace | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Notifications center (review countdowns, alerts) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Append-only audit log | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-tenant security + row-level isolation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Document Generation | ||||
| AI Use Policy | Preview | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Acceptable Use Standard | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Incident Response Plan | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vendor AI Risk Assessment | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Strategic Plan (wizard) | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| CAIO Position Statement (wizard) | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Committee Charter (wizard) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Privacy Policy (consumer / data-subject rights) | — | — | CCPA-grounded | GDPR + CCPA |
| OMB AI Compliance Plan (M-25-21 / M-25-22) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Compliance Crosswalk export | — | NIST + ISO + Colorado | NIST + ISO + Colorado | NIST + ISO + Colorado + EU AI Act |
| Word (.docx) export | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| PDF export | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Organization logo on document exports | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| White-label exports (no Gradient Descent branding) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Compliance Frameworks | ||||
| NIST AI RMF | Preview | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ISO/IEC 42001 | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Colorado AI Act (HB 26-1263 / SB 26-189, eff. Jan 1, 2027) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| EU AI Act | — | — | — | ✓ |
| NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 / CSF 2.0 | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| CCPA / CPRA (California consumer privacy) | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| GDPR (EU data protection) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| HIPAA Security & Privacy Rules | — | — | — | ✓ |
| OMB M-25-21 / M-25-22 (Federal AI) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Risk & Impact | ||||
| Risk Register (CRUD + likelihood × impact scoring) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Risk heat map visualization | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Impact Assessment (7-section questionnaire) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto-create risk entries from assessments | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Project Management Module | ||||
| AI project list & per-project board | — | Up to 2 | Up to 5 | Unlimited |
| 7-phase AI development lifecycle checklist | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 45-item NIST/ISO/EU grounded task checklist | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kanban board (drag-drop, task detail, Edit mode) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cross-links: Use Cases / Projects / Risk Register | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Agentic AI Governance Module | ||||
| AI Agents inventory — basic registration (identity, ownership, data access) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 12-item zero-trust controls checklist (NIST SP 800-207) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Zero-trust score + low-score alerts | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Agent registration wizard (3-step) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Agent metrics in Board Report governance block | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cross-links: Agents / Use Cases / Risk Register | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Training, Incidents & Operations | ||||
| Training plan + completion tracking | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Acceptable-use acknowledgment sign-off | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Incident log + severity codes | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| EU AI Act Art. 73 serious-incident flag | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Reporting & Governance | ||||
| Quarterly Board Report (full — maturity score + quarterly history) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Cost Tracking & Roll-Up (per use case + program office, 60-day renewal alerts, Board Report totals) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Board Report — AI Agents governance section | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Governance maturity score + stars (dashboard/badge) | Preview | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shareable governance badge | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ White-labeled |
| Live public Trust Page + embeddable live badge | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ White-labeled |
| Employee Attestation Portal (unlimited signers) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Regulatory horizon feed ("What's Changing") | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gap report with advisory CTAs | Preview | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Administration | ||||
| Admin Console (full data inventory & controls) | — | Owner + Admin | Owner + Admin | Owner + Admin |
| User roles (Owner / Admin / Editor / Viewer) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| User invite & role management | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Enterprise SSO (SAML / OIDC) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Data export (full org snapshot) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Retention policy + danger zone (Owner only) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Seats included | 1 | 3 (up to 5) | 5 (up to 10) | 10 (up to 20) |
| White-label client portal | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Support & Advisory | ||||
| Email support | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Onboarding walkthrough | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Priority support | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Advisory session (1:1 with Jim) | — | — | — | ✓ Included |
Common questions
Start free with the Readiness Scorecard, then build your AI inventory and set staff rules in minutes — no credit card required.