Jamf has released survey findings from 687 IT and security leaders, highlighting a growing challenge as AI becomes more integrated into everyday business operations. The research shows that while nearly three-quarters of organizations have adopted AI, deeper AI usage often increases exposure to security risks and cost management challenges, making governance a top priority for IT leaders.
The survey found that 72.9% of organizations have already deployed AI in some form. But adoption isn’t reducing risk. Organizations with deeply integrated AI are 40% more likely to report an AI-related incident than organizations still in the exploratory stage. The driver is a widening visibility gap. As AI deployment deepens, the ability to see and govern what is running tends to fall behind.
More than one in five respondents (22.0%) said their organization has already experienced an AI-related incident involving unexpected costs, a security issue, or both. Another 59.7% said they view an AI-related incident as a near-term risk.
The findings suggest that AI governance is quickly becoming an operational requirement rather than a future planning exercise.
“AI isn’t arriving as a single application that IT can approve and move on from. It’s showing up in developer tools, productivity apps, autonomous agents, and other software they already run. The challenge is maintaining visibility and control as that footprint expands,” said Beth Tschida, CEO of Jamf. “What our survey shows is that governance must keep pace with adoption. For organizations built on Apple, the foundation is already an advantage. Apple’s privacy model and the management controls built into the platform give IT teams a strong foundation to build on, and realizing that advantage depends on using tools built for Apple from the start.”
Governance Is Rising Alongside AI Adoption
When asked about their top AI priorities for the next 12 months, respondents identified three clear areas of focus:
- Automating IT operations (44.4%)
- Deploying AI productivity tools (41.0%)
- Establishing AI governance (36.7%)
The results show that organizations are pursuing productivity and governance at the same time. Rather than slowing adoption, IT teams are looking for ways to support AI use while maintaining visibility, security, and compliance.
Four challenges continue to surface
Across 178 open-ended responses, IT and security leaders described many of the same obstacles:
- Shadow AI remains a persistent concern as employees adopt AI tools without formal approval, often leaving IT teams with little visibility into how data is being used.
- Agentic and developer AI introduce new governance challenges through command-line tools, IDE extensions, embedded models and autonomous workflows that traditional monitoring tools often miss.
- Vendor sprawl continues to accelerate as software providers rapidly add AI capabilities to existing products, increasing the number of tools organizations must evaluate and govern.
- Cost management remains difficult as usage-based pricing and overlapping subscriptions make it harder for organizations to understand where AI spending is occurring and which tools are delivering value.
The next phase of AI adoption
The survey results point to a broader shift taking place across the enterprise. The question is no longer whether organizations will adopt AI; it’s how governance will keep pace.
As AI becomes embedded across applications, workflows and devices, IT and security teams need greater visibility into how AI tools operate, what data they access and where risk may exist. Organizations that address those questions early will be better positioned to scale AI adoption with confidence.
To learn more, download Jamf’s AI Governance Survey report: https://www.jamf.com/resources/white-papers/ai-governance-mac-survey
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