94 percent of organizations now use GenAI apps

New research from Netskope Threat Labs found that 94 percent of organizations now use GenAI applications, but interestingly, more than 99 percent have controls in place to mitigate the risks they pose.

The use of GenAI in organizations has grown with 81 percent of companies using applications in 2023. ChatGPT continues to be genAI’s most popular application, used by 84 percent of organizations.

Employee usage of genAI applications tripled from 2.6 percent of all people in organizations to 7.8 percent. Retail and technology organizations lead the way across all industries, with an average of more than 13 percent of all employees using GenAI apps monthly.

Organizations now use an average of 9.6 GenAI applications, up from 7.6 a year ago. The top 25 percent of organizations now use a minimum of 24, while the bottom 25 percent use a maximum of four.

“The common thread among organizations working to secure applications across the enterprise and mitigate threat challenges is the need for modern data security,” says Ray Canzanese, director of Netskope Threat Labs. “Gone are the days when data security was a secondary concern. It must be seamlessly integrated into all aspects of the organization. From phishing protection to personal app security and GenAI management, data security is no longer just about protecting the perimeter. It is a dynamic, proactive framework with real-time user training, DLP and application-specific controls to stay one step ahead of the ever-changing threat landscape.”

When it comes to protecting these applications, 45 percent of organizations use DLP to control the flow of data within them. DLP adoption for GenAI varies widely across the industry, with the highest rate in telecommunications at 64 percent.

Additionally, 34 percent of organizations use real-time, interactive user training to empower people to make better, more informed decisions. In 73 percent of cases when users receive a warning about a potential violation by a company, they choose not to act based on the educational information provided.

The report also shows that 73 percent of organizations block at least one GenAI app, with an average of 2.4 apps blocked year after year.

You can get full report from the Netscope website.

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