Shadow AI at the first gate
Hartwell Trust Bank checks an outside AI use case with fictional data.
Coming
See the mechanismSHOW YOUR WORK
See the control path, not a product slogan.
These fictional walkthroughs show what enters a workflow, which controls run, who approves an effect, and what evidence remains.
01 Source02 Boundary03 Human decision04 Evidence
FICTIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS
Governed in 90 Seconds
Illustrative scenarios. Names, organizations and details are invented.
What a pasted prompt can expose
A fictional bank tests the data boundary before access widens.
Coming
See the mechanismLabel and review external sharing
A person checks a proposed sharing decision and its evidence.
Coming
See the mechanismA risky AI use alert gets an owner
The sample response names who reviews and who may act.
Coming
See the mechanismThe agent action gate
The fictional bank records the exact action and approver.
Coming
See the mechanismPRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS
Product demonstrations live with the products.
SimpleOS Delivery, SimpleOS Reach, SimpleOS Desk, Simple Growth, Simple Time, Simple Merge and Simple Council are Simple Intelligence Group products, separate from Simplicity IT services. Their demonstrations, trials and availability are on the Simple Intelligence Group site.
See how each product can be bought todayTHE RULE
Why show work instead of a product slogan?
Because the claim that AI is safe is made by everyone, so the only thing left to show is the mechanism: what enters, which controls run, who approves an effect, and what evidence remains.
Every clip is rendered on fictional data in a demonstration tenant, with no face on camera, no music, no vendor names and a synthetic-media flag on. Until a clip is published, its card shows the title and Coming, never a dead embed.
THE MICROSOFT INSIGHT
What does Episode 1 show happening on a managed PC?
A fictional bank team member opens a public AI tool and the device blocks it, because an app tagged Unsanctioned in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is blocked on devices onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps lists generative AI apps as a category, and an app tagged Unsanctioned is blocked on devices onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, with up to three hours of propagation. (Microsoft Learn, checked Oct 31, 2026)
Show the block and the compliance officer sees a control. Describe the block and the compliance officer sees a slide.
THE SERIES
What do the five Hartwell episodes cover?
Shadow AI at the first gate, what a pasted prompt can expose, labeling and reviewing external sharing, a risky AI use alert getting an owner, and the agent action gate.
- Episode 1: a public AI tool blocked on a managed PC, live.
- Episode 2: client data pasted into a prompt and what the data boundary does with it.
- Episode 3: external sharing labeled and reviewed by a person.
- Episode 4: a Risky AI usage alert routed to a named owner.
- Episode 5: an agent's consequential action stopped at the gate until a person approves.
THE TRANSCRIPTS
Can you read the demonstration instead of watching it?
Yes: each published clip carries its transcript on this page, so the control path can be read, quoted and checked against the dated facts register.
The transcript is also what an answer engine reads. It is published with the clip, never before.
A transcript makes the demonstration quotable in a compliance memo. A video alone makes it a link someone has to find time for.
THE PRODUCTS
Where are the product demonstrations?
On the Simple Intelligence Group site. SimpleOS Delivery, Simple Council, Simple Growth and SimpleOS Reach are Simple Intelligence Group products that clients use inside governed workflows, and their demonstrations, trials and availability live with the products.
They are separate from Simplicity IT services. This page keeps the service series: fictional teams receiving Simplicity IT work, with the control path shown and no sales pitch.
AFTER TWO WEEKS
What will be working after two weeks?
- You have watched or read the episode that matches your question and forwarded it to the person who will judge the decision.
- You have taken the free check that matches the episode.
- You have had a scoping call and hold a one-page summary in your words.
- You know which workflow a pilot would start with and what it would need from you.
HONEST ABOUT LIMITS
What this does not do yet
It does not demonstrate a preview feature as if it were available. Blocking a Copilot or Cowork response when the typed prompt contains chosen sensitive information types is in preview and rolling out to tenants. (Microsoft Learn, checked Oct 31, 2026, preview) When an episode touches a control that is in preview, the transcript says so with the date it was checked.
It does not show a customer: every organization in every clip is fictional and every result is illustrative.
It does not embed a clip before it is published: a card shows the title and Coming until then.
THE ONE THING TO REMEMBER
See the control path, not a product slogan.
Said another way: what enters, which controls run, who approves, what evidence remains.
Said a third way: if we cannot show it on fictional data, we do not claim it.
DIRECT ANSWERS
Questions before you decide.
Are the organizations in the clips real?
No. Hartwell Trust Bank, Contoso Builders, Harbor Point Tower B and Corliss Bay Construction are fictional, and the clips are rendered in a demonstration tenant on sample data.
Why does a card say Coming?
Because the clip is not published yet. A card shows its title until the published link and transcript exist, so nothing on the page is a dead embed.
Can I share a clip with my compliance officer?
Yes. Published clips carry their transcript and the dated register entry for each Microsoft control shown, so the memo can quote the mechanism.
Are these Simplicity IT products?
The Hartwell series shows Simplicity IT services. Product demonstrations for the Simple Intelligence Group products are on the Simple Intelligence Group site, which carries its own product pages and, when published, its own Marketplace listings.
How do I see the control in my own tenant?
Book a scoping call. Discovery is read-only, and the pilot that follows is scoped and quoted after the call.
NEXT STEP
Start with a boundary you can explain.
Choose a focused check, or speak with the team about the workflow you need to improve.