How organizations can balance AI governance, security, and innovation without fear
Those of us who have been parents have all, at one time or another, been faced with the Christmas toy panic. There is that one item that, if our child does not get it, their world is coming to an end. Failure to obtain it is not an option. In some cases, we parents didn’t even know what it was, we just knew we had to get it. Remember the Furby? Furby was a cute electronic toy that came out in 1998 that was revolutionary in the toy market. It was the first domestic robot aimed at kids. When you first got it out of the box, it spoke its own language (“Furbish”), but over time it appeared to listen to what was going on around it and would learn how to speak English. Your kid’s Furby was listening to you long before your phone or Alexa was, or so we thought. The Furby’s seeming ability to listen, record, and speak eventually led to it being banned in secure facilities like the NSA. In the end, it was a lack of understanding of the toy’s capabilities, and a fervor of paranoia that fueled that controversy. Furby was actually programmed with a phrasebook and was simply following its programming to gradually appear to “learn” English.
The panic around Artificial Intelligence at the very beginning of 2025 reminds me a little of the early days of Furby. At the beginning of 2025, the sentiment was that 2025 was the year that AI would conquer the world and many organizations felt that they had to have it. They weren’t sure what they would do with it, or how they would use it, but they knew they had to have it. And then about mid-year we started to see a shift in sentiment more around paranoia. Security breeches due to AI became more prevalent and it became something to fear. Companies swung in the other direction and began outlawing its use. This was fueled by companies jumping into AI without sufficient security measures, shadow AI across the organization, or organizations not being ready for smarter hackers due to AI.
AI is, without a doubt, the genie that is not going back into the bottle. It is critical for organizations to understand how AI changes everything from how you hire; how you run your business; how your employees do work; and how you secure your assets. It is also vital that organizations rise above the panic and make smart moves that balance security, governance, and opportunity.
First, assess where you currently are. Are your websites, infrastructure, devices up to date and prepared for the evolution of cybersecurity attacks brought on by hackers using AI? Are your employees knowledgeable about detecting attacks via email? Every organization, without exception, has experienced or will experience an email attack that is smarter and more difficult to detect due to AI. Every organization should be taking proactive steps to train and educate their employees about these types of attacks. Have you educated your employees on the safe use of AI in their work, and do you have an AI use policy that aids employees in understanding what tools and actions are safe?
Having proper education and safeguards in place are fundamental on your AI journey. Once these things are established, you can move forward with confidence with next steps to implement AI within your applications and workflows. At Keller Schroeder, we recommend an approach that builds upon a solid foundation of Digital Transformation, which aligns people, process, and technology to implement an AI strategy that becomes an accelerator for your business.
Your development team will need guidance. A year ago, we began an intentional journey with our teams to make sure that we are utilizing AI in a way that drives innovation, but does so responsibly with a security-first mindset. We spent time understanding the boundaries and capabilities of AI in our day to day work lives, and are building out not only guidelines for secure, responsible use, but also on-going education for how to best utilize the tools that will help us bring the most value to our clients every day through the work that we do. The landscape is changing rapidly, and our team of dedicated developers are constantly assessing these changes to separate hype from reality and harness the ever-changing capabilities that AI brings to the table.
AI is changing everything. At Keller Schroeder, we are focused on helping our clients understand how AI fits into their world, from how you secure your business; to how you educate your employees; to how you utilize AI to evolve your capabilities. Your business is already on an AI journey, whether intentional or not. If you’d lie to explore how Keller Schroeder can walk beside you in this journey, reach out to your Select Account Manager or any member of our team to take the next step.
