Vendor AI Updates Are Silently Expanding Your Attack Surface
How many of your trusted SaaS vendors quietly turned on AI features last quarter, without asking you?
Every software update that introduces an LLM feature is effectively a new vendor onboarding, and should be treated with the same level of rigor.
The Situation
Salesforce Einstein, Microsoft Copilot, Workday's AI recruiting tools - these aren't optional add-ons anymore. They're being automatically enabled in your existing tools and embedded into renewal contracts, often with data-sharing terms that didn't exist when you signed the original agreement. Your procurement and legal teams approved these vendors years ago, but they didn't approve the generative AI models now getting access to your sensitive data. You have massive, unvetted technical debt creeping into your environment under the guise of a standard software update.
The Exposure
When a vendor adds generative AI to their tools, your existing data processing agreements likely don't cover it. If that AI feature causes a data leak or biased output that you relied on, your original contract's liability caps and indemnifications may not apply. You're operating under terms that were never negotiated or approved by Legal.
The Judgment Call
Treat every AI-driven update as a new vendor. Just because a provider has been in your technology stack for a decade doesn't mean their new predictive or generative module meets your current risk tolerance. Implement a mandatory 'AI Trigger' in your procurement and IT change-management process: any vendor release note mentioning AI, ML, or LLM functionality automatically freezes deployment until Procurement, Legal, and IT Security complete a reassessment. No exceptions, even for vendors you've used for a decade.
Risk: You'll slow down the adoption of new features and likely frustrate department heads who want the latest tools immediately.
Benefit: You prevent the unauthorized diffusion of sensitive corporate data into unvetted third-party AI environments.
This Week’s Action
What to do: Request a list of your top 10 SaaS vendors and ask IT to identify which ones have announced AI features in their latest release notes or marketing materials over the past 6 months.
Who to involve: The Head of Procurement or the Enterprise Architecture Lead.
What outcome to achieve: A clear inventory of which existing vendors have introduced AI features without a fresh risk assessment.
Time required: 20 minutes to initiate, 20 minutes to review.
Artifact
The Stealth AI Triage Logic
When a vendor announces an AI-powered update, use this decision flow to determine if you need to pause the implementation.
STEP 1: The Data Boundary Does the AI feature send any corporate or customer data to a third-party model provider (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic) that wasn't in the original contract?
→ YES: Pause deployment and re-contract
→ NO: Proceed to Step 2
STEP 2: The Training Clause Does the vendor’s updated Terms of Service allow them to use your data to "improve their models" or for "general research"?
→ YES: Disable the feature immediately
→ NO: Proceed to Step 3
STEP 3: The Transparency Requirement Can the vendor provide a log of when the AI is making a decision versus a human?
→ YES: Proceed to Step 4
→ NO: Mark as high-risk for regulated workflows
STEP 4: The Opt-Out Control Can we centrally disable this specific AI feature for all users without breaking the core functionality of the software?
→ YES: Deploy with monitoring
→ NO: Forced-adoption risk; escalate to Legal
If a vendor fails Step 1 or 2: immediately escalate to Legal and Procurement to renegotiate terms or disable the feature.
If a vendor fails Step 3 or 4: flag as non-compliant for regulated use cases (credit decisions, hiring, medical, financial advice) until remediated.
When the stakes exceed your internal capacity:
AI Exposure Diagnostic: A 2-hour strategic evaluation for risk, compliance, and legal leaders to identify your highest-priority governance gaps and deliver a 90-day remediation roadmap.
12-Week Governance Sprint: Translate regulatory requirements into audit-ready policies, control frameworks, and accountability structures.
Ongoing Advisory Retainer: Embedded judgment for policy updates, vendor assessments, and board prep as regulations and technology evolve.
Reply with "Diagnostic" or “Sprint” to schedule a conversation for next month.
Chris Cook writes Judgment Call weekly for compliance and risk officers navigating AI governance.
Former IBM Vice President and Deputy Chief Auditor. Published in the AI Journal, speaker at Yale.
Chris Cook
Managing Partner & Founder
Blackbox Zero
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