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Why E-Learning Alone Won't Keep Your Organisation Safe from AI-risk

Every compliance professional knows the drill: new technology or regulation emerges, and the response is predictable: roll out mandatory e-learning modules. Employees click through slides about acceptable use policies, answer multiple-choice questions, and receive their certificate of completion. Box checked. Risk managed.

Not exactly, If you’ve ever done an e-learning yourself, you’d know that it’s an inefficient and outdated method of risk reduction. The concept is fine, it’s just rarely effective.

The Shadow AI Problem: What You Can't See, You Can't Manage

While your organization may carefully vet and approve enterprise AI solutions, your employees are already using AI, and lots of it. ChatGPT for drafting emails. Claude for analysing data. Gemini for research. Perplexity for market intelligence. GitHub Copilot for code generation. The list grows daily.

This is shadow AI: the unmanaged, unmonitored, and often unknown use of AI tools across your organization. And it represents one of the most significant governance gaps in modern enterprises. The concept is not new and has been known within your IT department for decades (hence MDM and other types of software exist).

The problem isn't that employees are malicious, quite the contrary employees are often trying to be innovative or effective. But in doing so, they may be:

  • Uploading confidential customer data to unauthorized platforms
  • Sharing proprietary code with external AI services
  • Processing personal information in violation of GDPR
  • Creating compliance liabilities your organization doesn't even know exist

Why E-Learning Falls Short

Traditional e-learning approaches to AI governance suffer from three fundamental flaws:

1. Rely on Perfect Compliance

E-learning assumes that once trained, employees will consistently follow policies. Reality tells a different story. Under deadline pressure, faced with complex workflows, or simply forgetting the details of a 30-minute course taken months ago, employees make expedient choices.

2. Can't Keep Pace with Innovation

New AI tools launch weekly. Your e-learning content is outdated before the ink dries on the certificate. How can employees follow policies about tools that didn't exist when they took the training? How can risk managers assess threats they don't know about?

3. Provide No Visibility

E-learning tells employees what they should do. It doesn't tell you what they actually are doing. When an incident occurs, you're left investigating after the fact, with no systematic way to understand your true AI exposure.

The Missing Layer: Real-Time Discovery and Oversight

Regardless of the points raised above, e-learning is not something that we will see disappearing. What organisations need isn't less education, it's a complementary layer that provides continuous visibility and real-time guidance. This is where Velatir's approach changes the game.

Traces: Making the Invisible Visible

At the heart of our solution is a concept we call "traces". Traces are the digital breadcrumbs that reveal which AI systems your employees are actually accessing. Through our browser extension layer, we capture these traces in real-time, giving you unprecedented visibility into your organization's AI footprint.

Here's what this means in practice:

  • Automatic Discovery: Instead of hoping employees report their AI tool usage, Velatir automatically detects when they access AI platforms, approved or not. You get a comprehensive, real-time inventory of every AI solution being used across your organization.
  • Context-Aware Monitoring: Traces don't just tell you that someone used ChatGPT. They provide the context you need for risk assessment: Which departments? What frequency? What types of data might be involved?
  • Evidence for Compliance: When regulators ask how you ensure AI governance, you can demonstrate systematic oversight with concrete data, not just training completion rates.

A Layered Approach to AI Governance

We're not suggesting you abandon e-learning. Education remains important for building awareness and establishing expectations. But it must be part of a layered defense implementing your written governance (Frameworks, Policies and Procedures):

Layer 1: Education: E-learning builds awareness, and sets expectations

Layer 2: Technical Controls: Velatir's solutions provides visibility, discovery, and real-time intervention. It reduces operational and compliances risks and provides a clear ROI.

Layer 3: Continuous Improvement: Velatir’s solutions, enable your organisation to trace data making informed policy updates, targeted training, and risk prioritization.

The Stakes Are Rising

With the EU AI Act slowly and regulators worldwide paying closer attention to AI governance, the stakes for getting this right have never been higher. Organisations need to demonstrate not just that they have policies, but that they have systematic controls to ensure those policies are followed.

Shadow AI isn't going away. If anything, the proliferation of AI tools will accelerate. The question isn't whether your employees will use AI, it's whether you'll have visibility and control when they do.

E-learning taught us the rules of the road. But in fast-moving traffic, you also need guardrails, traffic signals, and real-time navigation. That's what Velatir's solutions provide, and why traces are essential for any AI governance program.

Whats next?

But Velatir doesn't stop at visibility. As we develop, our browser extension will also enable real-time guidance at the point of use, exactly when employees need it:

  • Pre-emptive warnings when accessing unapproved AI tools
  • Alternative suggestions directing users to approved, compliant solutions
  • Seamless integration that doesn't disrupt workflow or productivity

This creates a safety net that works even when memory of training fades, when new tools emerge, or when deadline pressure mounts.

Ready to gain visibility into your organization's AI usage?

Our browser extension is currently in Open Beta and can be made available to you on request. Schedule a demo to see how traces can complement your AI governance program.