Employees are keeping quiet about dangerous or unethical artificial intelligence behaviour at work because they fear retaliation, new research suggests, as businesses face growing pressure to manage the cultural risks created by rapid AI adoption.
Many workers also admitted using banned AI tools or uploading sensitive company information into public platforms, raising concerns about governance, trust and psychological safety inside organisations.
It suggests a widening gap between leadership perceptions and the experiences of employees using AI systems day-to-day in the workplace. Research from Writer, an enterprise AI platform provider, found that 28 percent of employees had witnessed AI tools produce outputs at work that were dangerously wrong, unethical or biased.
Pressure growing inside workplaces
Despite those concerns, three in ten employees said they did not feel safe reporting harmful or unethical AI behaviour internally because they feared retaliation.
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At the same time, 90 percent of executives believed employees were comfortable raising concerns about AI, suggesting many senior leaders may be underestimating workplace anxiety surrounding the technology.
The survey of 2,400 enterprise executives and employees also suggested growing pressure to use AI tools was encouraging risky behaviour among staff. More than a third of employees admitted uploading confidential or sensitive company information into public AI tools, while 16 percent said they were using AI systems explicitly banned by their employer.
Among employees using prohibited tools, 40 percent said they were simply doing “whatever it takes” to complete their work. Others blamed poor-quality internal AI systems and weak enforcement policies for driving so-called “shadow AI” adoption across workplaces.
The report also suggested many organisations lacked clear oversight of how AI tools were actually being used by employees. More than a third of executives admitted they did not have full visibility or control over which AI systems staff were using.
Leadership trust gap emerging
Experts say it raises growing questions for employers around whistleblowing culture, governance and employee trust as AI becomes more deeply embedded into everyday work.
The report warned that pressure to embrace AI could itself discourage employees from speaking up, particularly if workers feared being viewed as resistant to innovation or productivity improvements.
The research also pointed to wider governance concerns around autonomous AI systems, often referred to as AI agents.
More than a third of executives said they were not confident they could quickly shut down AI agents if systems started causing reputational or financial damage. A total of 36 percent admitted their organisation still lacked a formal documented plan for supervising AI agents.
Security and data protection emerged as the biggest governance concern among leaders, followed by employee training, transparency and explainability.
But only a quarter of executives identified ethical alignment as a major concern, despite widespread reports from employees about harmful or biased AI outputs.
The research also suggests that many business leaders privately lack confidence in their organisation’s AI strategy. Three quarters of executives said their company’s AI approach was driven more by public signalling than by practical internal direction.
Data breach fears rising
The report warned that AI-related security concerns were becoming increasingly widespread inside large businesses. Two thirds of executives believed their organisation had already experienced a data leak or security breach caused by employees using unapproved AI tools.
It suggests that thousands of large UK businesses could potentially be exposed to security or compliance risks as AI adoption continues to accelerate faster than governance frameworks.
The research was based on a survey of 2,400 enterprise executives and employees across the UK.
William Furney is a Managing Editor at Black and White Trading Ltd based in Kingston upon Hull, UK. He is a prolific author and contributor at Workplace Wellbeing Professional, with over 127 published posts covering HR, employee engagement, and workplace wellbeing topics. His writing focuses on contemporary employment issues including pension schemes, employee health, financial struggles affecting workers, and broader workplace trends.
- William Furney
- William Furney
- William Furney
- William Furney
