Akamai Research: Nearly Half of Enterprise AI Use Bypasses Corporate Security, Creating Massive “Shadow AI” Visibility Gaps

Key takeaways * The rise of the “AI power user”: Although AI has expanded across every business function, risk is heavily concentrated. A highly active group of power users are driving the vast majority of enterprise AI exposure. * The dominance of “shadow AI”: Security teams are suffering from a severe visibility gap, focusing heavily on a few approved platforms while a massive “long tail” of unmanaged apps runs silently beneath the surface. * The emergence of AI-native attack vectors: The new report details three novel threat methodologies discovered by researchers in 2026 that bypass traditional perimeter defenses entirely. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) released a new State of the Internet (SOTI) security report today that details how rogue browser extensions and vulnerable autonomous agents are actively expanding the enterprise threat surface. The Enterprise AI Usage Risk Report 2026reveals how decentralized shadow AI, highly active AI power users, and silent browser extensions are exposing critical corporate assets to entirely new classes of cyber risk.