AI costs are hidden in plain sight, and most firms cannot see them
CIO.com and Deloitte both point to the same gap: AI spend is spread across vendors, usage-based plans and personal subscriptions that nobody is adding up.
Summary
CIO.com reports that almost half of large enterprises lack full visibility into the AI tools employees use, and 77% of technology leaders say AI adoption is outpacing their ability to govern it. Deloitte estimates UK workers also spend about £958 million of their own money on GenAI for work. Seeing usage and cost per person and per provider is the first step to controlling it.
- 77%
- of technology leaders say AI adoption is outpacing governance capabilities
- ~50%
- of large enterprises lack full visibility into the AI tools employees use
- 80%
- of costs come from 10% of users at Cornerstone Research
- £958m
- estimated yearly personal spend by UK workers on GenAI for work
CIO.com reporting on AI visibility and cost
Each dot is 1%
80%
of AI cost at one firm comes from just 10% of its users.
01
77%
of technology leaders say AI adoption is outpacing governance.
02
~50%
of large enterprises cannot fully see which AI tools staff use.
03
30%
extra cost is seen in some products with AI features built in.
Figures are as reported by the sources linked below.
The problem: you cannot manage what you cannot see
Writing for CIO.com, Stephanie Overby reports that nearly two-thirds of companies say employees used AI without proper oversight, and almost half of large enterprises lack full visibility into the AI tools their people use. 77% of technology leaders say AI adoption is outpacing their governance capabilities.
"Combine the breakneck pace at which companies are looking to embrace AI with the low technical barrier to entry for using AI, and you've got an incredibly challenging space to keep tabs on."
Where the hidden costs come from
The article names three places costs hide: AI features bundled into vendor renewals, usage-based pricing that is hard to forecast, and departmental purchases made outside IT. Some solutions show a 30% cost uplift from embedded AI features.
Usage-based pricing means spend follows adoption. At Cornerstone Research, 80% of costs come from 10% of users.
"With Claude Code, costs are usage-based, and as adoption grows, so does spend."
Personal subscriptions add another layer
Deloitte UK estimates that British workers spend about £958 million a year of their own money on GenAI tools for work, and 31% use GenAI without their employer knowing. Those costs never reach a company ledger, and neither does the data that goes into those tools.
Visibility is the first fix
Eric Pace, Head of AI at Cox Business, says all of the company's AI traffic is routed through an AI gateway and runtime security solutions. Not every business can build that, but the principle holds: see the traffic, and you can see the cost and the risk together.
The CIO.com article also notes that cost visibility is not always the only goal. Some organisations prioritise risk management and want high performers to be free of uniform cost caps. That calls for per-person numbers rather than one blunt limit.
What this means for your team
- Track usage by employee, team and provider, not just by vendor invoice.
- Look at token counts and estimated cost month to date, so surprises show up early.
- Find the small group of heavy users before deciding on any caps.
- Pair cost data with security events, so you see who is spending and who is exposing data.
Inveil is data loss prevention (DLP) for AI. It checks prompts, files and screenshots on each employee's machine before they reach an AI tool, blocks or redacts sensitive data by your rules, and logs every event.
Common questions
- Why are AI costs hard to track?
- CIO.com identifies three causes: AI features embedded in vendor renewals, usage-based pricing that varies with adoption, and departmental purchases outside IT oversight.
- How much visibility do companies have into employee AI use?
- According to CIO.com, almost half of large enterprises lack full visibility into the AI tools employees use, and 77% of technology leaders say adoption is outpacing governance.
- How can I see what my team spends on AI?
- Track usage by employee, team and provider, including token counts and estimated cost. Inveil's dashboard shows this alongside a record of every block and redaction.
Sources: