---
title: "AI: the biggest risk for SMEs is not the technology, but its use without oversight — Marsanne Studio AI watch"
description: "VARS (RCGT) warns SMEs about the risks of unmanaged AI, notably shadow AI and the leakage of confidential data."
url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/ai-the-biggest-risk-for-smes-is-not-the-technology-but-its-use-without-d82306/"
lang: "en"
---

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Press release · 1 October 2026

# AI: the biggest risk for SMEs is not the technology, but its use without oversight

Original title, in French: “IA : le plus grand risque pour les PME n’est pas la technologie, mais son utilisation sans encadrement”

**Publication**

Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (Canada)

**Author**

Unsigned

**Published on**

1 October 2026 · read in the page structured data

## Summary

In a press release published for Cybersecurity Awareness Month, VARS, the cybersecurity division of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (RCGT), warns SME leaders about the risks of adopting AI without oversight. According to Maxime Boutin and Guillaume Caron, co-founders of VARS, SMEs are adopting generative AI quickly but with little governance, which exposes confidential, customer or financial data to unapproved external tools (shadow AI). The article lists five major risks (data leakage, AI-amplified cyberattacks, shadow AI, decisions based on hallucinations, lack of governance) and recommendations: an AI usage policy, identity and access management, multi-factor authentication, employee awareness training, and keeping a human in the loop.

Summary based on the full text of the article.

[Read the article on Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton →](https://www.rcgt.com/fr/nouvelles-communiques/ia-cybersecurite-risques-pme/)

## Classification

**Country**

Canada

**Company size**

SMEs

**Industries**

All industries, or industry not specified

**Companies**

Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (cited), VARS (supplier), Fédération québécoise des municipalités (cited)

**Keywords**

cybersecurity, shadow ai, data governance, sme, deepfakes, data leakage

Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton sells AI services or products: its studies and publications should be read with that interest in mind.

Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.