Atlanta’s pipIQ Launches to Tackle “Shadow AI” Risks Threatening Businesses

Want more tech stories in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest news from across the Southeast. Subscribe here.

One of the biggest threats to a company in the AI Age isn’t necessarily going to be some sophisticated hacker. It’s likely just someone on the inside, like Bob from accounting, says Whitney Horton.

Horton, the innovation and development executive at Atlanta-based pipIQ, said that employees are relying on insecure AI tools, or shadow AIs, and are often uploading sensitive company data without realizing the consequences. That means contracts, client data, and internal proprietary company details are getting pasted into ChatGPT and other public AI platforms, creating serious security vulnerabilities and compliance nightmares for businesses.

“People simply don't realize the risk of AI and unsecured AI,” Horton told Hypepotamus, pointing to a 2025 KPMG study that found 44% of employees have used AI in a way that goes against their own company’s policies.

That can be particularly dangerous for smaller companies, early-stage startups, and small-to-medium (SMB) sized businesses that are trying to do more with less.

That’s where Horton says pipIQ is ready to fill in the gap.

A Peek Into pipIQ

Horton said pipIQ works as a "standalone secured AI," or a private AI workspace that gives employees the familiar ChatGPT-like experience they want, but within a company's secure environment where proprietary data never leaves the firewall.

The platform can be customizable and white-labeled, built around each client's unique knowledge base. Proprietary information never leaves your company's infrastructure. The tool is also HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR compliant.

PipIQ, which officially started this week, offers a flat-rate model instead of a per-user charge model that is common in the SaaS world.

In its early stages, pipIQ is resonating with risk and compliance teams and companies that are hiring a knowledge-heavy workforce where onboarding new hires can be a long process. The business tier is $1,195 per month for up to 1,000 employees.

Horton compared pipIQ to a self-sustaining tiny home that gets smarter over time.

"It is like a standalone house. The more you learn, the pipes and the wiring and everything else gets smarter and smarter," she told Hypepotamus. "As an administrator, I can put in my company policies, my handbooks, my playbooks. I can put in my rules of my specific business. That way, anytime my employees or I interact with it, it goes through my database of what I've already put in there."

The SMB Playbook

pipIQ is the first AI play for Tarkenton, the enterprise SaaS development company founded by NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, the former UGA and Minnesota Vikings quarterback. Tarkenton told Hypepotamus that pipIQ is an extension of the team’s focus on helping small businesses compete and succeed in their marketplace.

The rapid development and deployment of AI tools can be unnerving to smaller businesses that lack the budget and resources to build their own internal AI tools. But Horton said that the AI Age actually opens up a unique window of opportunity for SMBs.

"If we can get ahead of it, I think it's the one time in history where the small and mid-sized business can truly do leaps and bounds over any big business," Horton told Hypepotamus. "If you've ever been a part of big businesses, it's death by committee. To get one thing through, it's going to take 18 months and multiple meetings."

By contrast, an SMB using pipIQ "can make a decision and implement it today." That allows their employee base to gain access to the equivalent of a “full time assistant" right away.

The current team has just under 50 employees onboard.