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Your sales team may be using AI tools that the company has not approved or cannot see—but available surveys do not prove that every sales department is doing so. They do show why leaders should ask what tools employees use, what information they enter, and whether the tools fit company rules.
What the surveys say—and what they don’t
Workplace AI use is widespread in several surveys, but the findings measure different populations and behaviors. None establishes the rate of undisclosed or unapproved AI use specifically among sales teams.
| Finding | What was measured |
|---|---|
| 75% of knowledge workers surveyed said they used AI at work; 46% of AI users said they had started within the previous six months. | Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 Work Trend Index, based on a survey of 31,000 people in 31 countries, alongside other labor and productivity data. Microsoft and LinkedIn |
| 78% of surveyed AI users said they brought their own AI tools to work; 52% said they were reluctant to admit using AI for their most important tasks. | Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 survey. Bringing a personal tool to work is not, by itself, proof that a person violated company policy. Microsoft WorkLab |
| 81% of sales teams surveyed were experimenting with or had fully implemented AI. | Salesforce’s 2024 State of Sales survey of 5,500 sales professionals in 27 countries, conducted March 8–April 18, 2024. This measures sales-team adoption, not hidden use. Salesforce |
| 71% of UK employees surveyed said they had used unapproved consumer AI tools at work; 51% said they continued doing so weekly. | Microsoft-commissioned Censuswide survey of 2,003 UK employees aged 18 and over in October 2025. These are UK-wide self-reports, not sales-only results. Microsoft UK |
These figures should not be combined into one prevalence estimate: the surveys differ in year, geography, sample, and question wording. They support investigating possible shadow AI—AI use outside an organization’s approval or visibility—not assuming that a particular employee or team is hiding it.
What salespeople may be using AI to do
Salesforce’s 2024 report describes sales professionals using or seeing AI affect data quality, customer-needs analysis, personalization, forecasting, and prospect or customer communications. Salesforce’s 2023 generative-AI report also describes tasks such as account research, prospecting emails, sales reports, and sales strategies. These are reported use cases, not independent proof that the outputs are accurate or effective.
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Microsoft UK’s 2025 survey found that 49% of UK respondents used consumer AI assistants to draft or respond to work communications, 40% to draft work materials such as reports and presentations, and 22% for finance-related tasks. The survey did not establish how those figures apply to sales teams. The findings nevertheless illustrate why employees might reach for general-purpose assistants for accessible tasks such as drafting and preparation; they do not establish why someone at your company uses an unapproved tool.
Why employees may turn to tools outside company approval
In Microsoft UK’s October 2025 survey, respondents cited familiarity with consumer tools (41%) and the lack of a work-approved option from their employer (28%) as reasons for using unapproved AI. Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 findings—that some workers were reluctant to disclose AI use on important tasks and many leaders worried their organization lacked a plan—are consistent with a gap between experimentation and formal readiness. None of these findings identifies an individual employee’s motive.
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Salesforce’s 2024 survey also found that 70% of sales reps’ time was spent on non-selling tasks. That helps explain organizational interest in automation, but it does not show that a particular AI tool saves time. The same survey reported revenue growth among 83% of sales teams with AI, compared with 66% of those without AI. This is an association in a vendor-published survey, not evidence that AI caused the difference.
How to find out what is actually happening
Begin with workflow discovery, not an accusation or a blanket ban. Ask sellers which tools they use, which tasks they use them for, what information they enter, and what problem they are trying to solve. Explain that the goal is to make useful work safer and clearer, while giving employees a straightforward way to disclose tools and concerns.
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- Map tools and tasks: Record the tool, business purpose, user group, and whether it is company-approved. Include official AI features in CRM and productivity tools as well as standalone assistants.
- Trace the data: Ask whether prompts or uploads contain customer details, confidential company information, deal terms, or other sensitive material. Identify where that information goes and who can access the resulting output.
- Look for workflow pressure: Find out whether employees are using AI because an approved option is missing, hard to access, or poorly matched to their task.
- Check business outputs: Review AI-assisted customer messages, research, and CRM updates for accuracy and appropriate handling before treating them as reliable.
Salesforce’s 2024 survey found that only 35% of sales professionals completely trusted their organization’s data. That makes data readiness relevant when evaluating AI-assisted CRM work; the figure is a survey response, not an assessment of your company’s data.
Set practical rules for sales AI
Give sellers guidance they can apply during ordinary work. State which tools are approved, what data may not be entered, which tasks require review, and where employees can get help. Make approved tools and instructions easy to find; guidance that is difficult to use can leave employees relying on familiar consumer services.
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- Protect customer and confidential data: Specify prohibited data categories and approved handling routes rather than relying on a vague instruction to “be careful.”
- Require human review: Check AI-generated claims, customer communications, and consequential CRM changes before they are sent or saved.
- Teach verification: Train sellers to check names, facts, calculations, account details, and claims against trustworthy sources and company records.
- Provide a disclosure route: Let employees raise a tool or workflow for review without framing every unapproved use as deliberate misconduct.
Salesforce’s 2023 research reported that 49% of sales professionals surveyed did not know how to use generative AI safely at work and 73% said it introduced new security risks. These are 2023 findings, not a current 2026 measurement. The report also records concerns about security and accuracy and support for human oversight and ethical guidance; they underline the need for training and review, not a guarantee that any particular control eliminates risk.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to assess a controlled pilot
If the team has a promising use case, evaluate it with company-approved tools and defined boundaries before expanding it. Compare the same criteria across candidate workflows or products rather than treating a vendor’s general claims as proof of suitability.
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| Assessment area | Questions to answer |
|---|---|
| Data access and handling | What information can the tool access? What are its retention and administrator controls? Are those arrangements acceptable for the data involved? |
| Workflow fit | Does it work with the company’s CRM and approved processes, or does it create another disconnected step? |
| Usefulness to sellers | Does it address a real, recurring task that employees want help with? |
| Accuracy and review | How will users verify outputs, and which outputs must receive human review before use? |
| Training and support | Can users get practical guidance and help when something goes wrong? |
| Evaluation | Can the organization assess outcomes against a defined baseline without confusing correlation with causation? |
Gartner’s 2024 abstract recommends proactive planning for AI integration and cautions leaders to temper hard-ROI expectations. Treat that as a reason to plan and evaluate carefully, not as a vendor ranking or a promised return.
Keep the conclusion proportional to the evidence
Surveys show broad workplace AI use, sales-team experimentation, and substantial self-reported use of unapproved consumer tools among UK employees. They do not tell you how common covert use is in your own sales organization, establish that every BYOAI user broke a rule, or compare the security of specific products. The useful next move is to learn what employees are doing, address the data and accuracy risks, and offer clear approved paths for work that benefits from AI.
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