CheatGPT, aka, secretly using AI on the job by folks who are willing to break the rules, in order to seize a hidden advantage over their tech-averse coworkers, has become the new “shadow IT”. Only this new shadow is far more deadly than its predecessor shadow. 

A million years ago, back in January, even before Bing Chat and Google’s Bard were released, two-thirds of ChatGPT users surveyed, said they were deploying the technology in hiding.  

No surprise there for the young and ambitious, the characters we see portrayed in films like Wall Street, The Big Short and Margin Call, given the power of AI to boost productivity and convey competitive advantage. And as man y of our leaders make clear, the business of business is in fact, a zero sum game. 

AI has proven to help computer programmers be 56% faster at coding and shown employees leveraging AI were completing writing tasks 37% faster. 

This new technology flips the script on the typical lack of acceptance and cooperation for and with new enterprise technologies. Try getting everyone to start using SAP sometime. 

Excluding some (bluntly), idiots in congress who have gone on record as saying that since ChatGPT is harmless and, “I let my employees run wild with it”, most companies have been unwilling to give workers a green light. Many companies fear that these AI platforms might gain access to sensitive customer information, which they will then be legally obliged to protect. A recent survey conducted by Gartner found that 14% of companies had issued a blanket ban on the use of chatbots, 35% said they hadn’t finalized their AI guidance yet, and another 18% said they didn’t plan on issuing any guidance at all. 

We know remote software engineers who have discovered that ChatGPT could save them as many as 15 hours a week on certain coding tasks, but instead of using that extra time to do more work, they study classes that make them more marketable. 

Most software engineers have discovered that ChatGPT becomes an instant mentor/coder for difficult logic problems. Spitting out skeletal code in a matter of seconds that they can just drop into the control flow at the appropriate spot. 

Even when employers block access to AI tools at work, employees are pulling up apps like ChatGPT on their personal devices. When accumulated guilt causes employees do confront their secret with their boss, they usually discover that their boss is doing it too. 

The failure of companies to adapt to the sudden emergence of tools like ChatGPT is creating a kind of AI inequality. Those who use it gain a quantifiable advantage over those who shy away from it. They’re able to do more and better work, setting themselves up for the raises and promotions at the expense of everyone else. 

But, as employers cast about for ways to accommodate the current employee zeitgeist around G-AI, so that they can join the recruitment and employment club known as ‘AI or Die’, any avoidance or ignorance of the threats and or vulnerabilities introduced by this shadow will overcome any productivity or cost reduction improvements gained overnight. 

Let’s slow it down, think deeper and get smarter.