AI Use-Case Inventory: Why Organisations Need One

You cannot govern, risk-assess or evidence oversight of AI that you cannot see. An inventory is one of the first practical artefacts of AI governance maturity.

What to record

A useful inventory is not a perfect catalogue. It is a living record of where AI is used, by which teams, for what purpose, with which tools or vendors, what data is involved, who owns the use case, and whether it is approved, experimental or prohibited.

Without this visibility, policies stay generic, risk registers stay theoretical, and vendor reviews miss shadow AI.

Inventory helps you

• Find shadow AI — Surface tools and experiments that never went through a formal process.
• Classify use — Separate low-risk assistance from higher-impact decision support or automation.
• Feed the risk register — Connect real use cases to risks, owners and controls.