F5 announced on 22 June that it has acquired SurePath AI, a startup built around network-based AI discovery, intent classification and shadow-AI detection, and made it the centrepiece of a new F5 AI Security Platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
SurePath's method is the interesting part. Rather than integrating with each application, it works through network redirects and out-of-band traffic analysis to surface AI usage across an enterprise, including unauthorised activity, then classifies intent from what it sees. That lets a security team map who is calling which model without installing anything on the apps or endpoints themselves.
As agents and copilots spread faster than approval processes, "which AI is already running on our network" has become a real question, and F5 is betting the answer lives in the traffic rather than in software on every device. Expect more of the network and security incumbents to start treating shadow AI as the next shadow IT.