NordLayer’s New Tool Shows How Much Your Company Really Spends on AI Tokens and Who Really Uses Those Paid Licenses
- AI Scout tracks which AI services employees actually use at work
- Employees are increasingly turning to AI services outside approved channels
- NordLayer AI Scout can warn, compose or block sensitive messages before sending them
Employees are increasingly using AI tools at work, including services that their employers may not have formally approved or provided.
That creates uncertainty about what AI platforms workers access, what information they send, and how those systems connect to business operations.
NordLayer says its new AI Scout tool will now help give organizations visibility into AI activity in the workplace and the security risks associated with it.
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The standalone product monitors browser and desktop interactions while providing controls aimed at limiting the exposure of sensitive information across systems.
AI Scout can identify authorized and unauthorized AI services, allowing organizations to compare observed activity to software approved for use in the workplace.
Its reports measure usage based on actual activity rather than purchased subscriptions, and it also estimates token consumption across deployed LLMs.
It also examines information that employees send to artificial intelligence systems, using checks designed to detect potentially sensitive material before certain prompts are sent.
The company says these safeguards operate before shipping, potentially preventing sensitive material from reaching an external AI service.
NordLayer also says that browser-based controls can intervene when employees enter information that requires additional scrutiny before transmission.
Monitoring extends beyond conventional chatbot use, to AI agents and their technical relationships with connected services used at work.
Administrators can inspect the MCP infrastructure linked to scheduling agents and review the capabilities available through those systems in practice.
“We built NordLayer AI Scout to see how AI really works, not just what it looks like from the outside, but also what’s happening on a technical level,” says Vakaris Noreika, vice president of product research and development at NordLayer.
“Its AI DLP is designed to inspect indications and control them before sending, to ensure that sensitive data is never entered in the first place.
Why AI in the workplace needs closer oversight
The need for monitoring arises as enterprise investment in artificial intelligence grows alongside employees’ use of unapproved services, a practice known as shadow AI.
Writer’s 2026 business survey found that 59% of companies spend more than $1 million annually on AI technology.
A report from the University of Melbourne cited by NordLayer found that 42% of employees use approved AI systems, while 70% use free models at work.
IBM reports that breaches involving shadow AI add $400,000 to the global average cost of breaches of $4.99 million worldwide.
Those numbers help explain why organizations can struggle to maintain visibility when employees use AI services beyond formally approved platforms.
“What companies face today is an AI zoo: dozens of unauthorized LLMs used daily across the workforce, each expanding the organization’s exposure to data leaks and security breaches,” says Andrius Buinovskis, vice president of product strategy at NordLayer.
“True AI governance requires broad visibility. With new LLM solutions emerging at a rapid pace, reviewing each new AI tool manually simply cannot scale: organizations need telemetry that brings together all AI usage, authorized or unauthorized, on a single platform.”
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