To review AI app access in Google Workspace, identify connected apps, compare their permissions with their business purpose, and remove unnecessary access. Blue Lantern Security's daily AI exposure scan helps surface the connections to review. Administrators investigate and change those permissions in Google's Admin console, then check subsequent findings.
This review answers a practical question: which AI tools have a connection to company data, and does that access still make sense? It is one part of finding shadow AI. An employee may have clicked “Allow” without the business ever reviewing the connection.
Start with your Blue Lantern Security AI exposure findings
In your Gmail organization integration's settings, enable Daily AI exposure scan and follow the integration instructions for the required permissions. Results appear in Monitoring Hub → AI Exposure, with findings organized by app.
The scan reviews users' granted third-party OAuth apps and highlights AI tools with access to services such as Drive, Gmail, and Calendar. It runs once daily and reads app identities and permission scopes, never email or file contents. User grants are aggregated into counts; Google's administrative views let you investigate individual connections.
Take an app from those findings through the steps below. You can also use the same process for an app an employee asks you to approve.
1. Find the connected apps and their owners
You need a Workspace administrator account with the Service Settings privilege for app access controls. Open Security → Access and data control → API controls → Manage App Access. Check Accessed apps → View list as well as configured apps; the configured list alone is not a complete usage inventory.
Open an app to examine its client ID, user count, and requested services. Expand the permission details. Google documents this inventory and its controls in its app access guide.
Start with tools employees use for writing, meeting notes, search, and automation. Ask team leads about unfamiliar apps and AI features inside familiar products. A search for “AI” in app names will miss some connections.
For each candidate, identify the employee or team responsible for it and the task it supports. Record the full OAuth client ID alongside the app name so you can match the same connection during follow-up. Treat an app's technical authorization and its business approval as separate facts.
Use the scan's findings to prioritize connections that combine sensitive data access with an unclear owner, an abandoned trial, or permissions wider than the task requires.
2. Translate Drive permissions into business impact
An OAuth scope describes an application's permitted access. For a document assistant, the distinction between selected files and broad Drive access matters more than whether its interface looks familiar.
These common Drive scopes have different reach. The names below omit the shared https://www.googleapis.com/auth/ prefix.
| Scope | What it permits | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
drive.file |
Access to files created by the app or selected for use with it; this can include editing | Which files will employees share, and does the task need changes to them? |
drive.readonly |
Reading and downloading the user's Drive files broadly | Does the assistant need that reach to complete this task? |
drive |
Broad access to read and manage the user's Drive files | Is both the breadth and the ability to change files justified? |
Review every granted scope together. A narrow scope does not cancel a broader one. These permissions also operate within the granting account's access; one user's grant does not automatically give an app every file across the company. Google's Drive scope definitions explain the differences.
If the app also has Gmail or Calendar access, include that in the decision. A document workflow does not explain why an assistant needs unrelated information or actions.
Keep requested scopes, allowed scopes, and granted access separate
Google's access configuration screen can include scopes an app requested historically. Check View details for the configured policy, and the user's connection for what they actually granted.
The review should answer three things: what the app asks for, what your organization allows, and what the particular connection has received.
3. Work through the mismatch before choosing a fix
Suppose an employee connects an AI writing assistant to revise one sales proposal. The connection has drive.readonly, and the employee can also access customer contracts and internal planning documents.
The problem is the mismatch between a one-document task and broad read access. You do not need proof of a leak to decide the connection should be narrower.
A useful review record would look like this:
| Review item | Example decision |
|---|---|
| Business purpose | Revise an approved sales proposal |
| Accountable owner | Sales operations lead |
| Access found | Broad Drive read access through the employee's account |
| Access needed | The proposal selected for this task |
| Decision | Remove the broad connection; use a supported per-file connection if the provider offers one and the service is approved |
| Verification | Confirm the old grant is removed and inspect any replacement grant before resuming work |
Ask the provider whether its connector supports a narrower permission arrangement. Changing an admin setting cannot make an application work with a scope it does not support. If broad access is essential to the product, decide whether the business need justifies it or use another approved workflow.
4. Remove one connection or restrict the app
Choose the action that matches your decision. Removing an employee's old connection and preventing future use of an app address different needs.
Remove an individual user's connection
In the Admin console, open Directory → Users, select the user, and choose Security → Connected applications. Inspect the app's access level and authorization date. Hover over the app, select Remove, confirm Remove, then select Done. This needs user-management privileges.
The employee may be able to reconnect if your policies still permit the app. Google's user security settings guide explains this limitation and the removal controls.
Block the app for the relevant users
In Manage App Access, find the app and select Change access. Select the intended organizational units, choose Blocked, and review the selection before confirming. Check for existing organizational-unit overrides.
For an approved app that supports narrower access, Specific Google data limits the scopes it may request. Limited means the app can reach only Google services you have not marked as restricted. It is not a per-file setting.
Coordinate routine changes with the owner so they have an approved way to continue the work. Record who made the decision and why. If you suspect active misuse, involve whoever handles security incidents rather than treating it as ordinary housekeeping.
5. Verify the result and preserve useful evidence
Recheck the affected user's connection and the app's applicable access policy. For a replacement connection, inspect its permissions rather than assuming that a fresh authorization is narrower.
After the next successful daily scan, confirm it ran after your change and compare the app's findings with your decision. If access still appears, check for reporting delays, another user's remaining grant, or a new connection. Keep the Google verification and the later scan result in your review record.
Google's app inventory is not instant: details typically appear 24–48 hours after authorization, and the accessed-apps list can lag token changes by 48 hours.
For supporting history, use Reporting → Audit and investigation → OAuth log events. Filter by application ID, user, and time period to see the grant and revocation records. Access depends on administrative privileges and available features; API-call events have additional edition requirements. Google's OAuth log guidance explains the available evidence.
An authorization event shows that access was granted, not what was done with it. It will not reveal a prompt's contents or which files reached the provider. If disclosure is suspected, preserve the activity evidence and investigate the data involved. Removing access also does not erase copies a provider already holds.
Understand what this review covers
The scan identifies AI apps using a maintained catalog and name-based checks. Review the actual app and its business purpose even when its classification looks familiar. A finding calls attention to access. It is not a verdict that the app is malicious or unapproved.
The scan is not a full DLP solution or a complete inventory of every way employees use AI. Copying text into a personal chatbot, using an external API key, and granting a service account domain-wide delegation require additional review beyond a user's third-party OAuth connections. Our AI access monitoring and DLP comparison explains how to address those different needs.
What a completed review should leave you with
For each reviewed app, retain its name and client ID, accountable owner, business purpose, permissions, access decision, and verification date. Schedule the next review and revisit connections when their purpose or permissions change.
The result should be a clear answer to who needs the connection, what it can reach, and why that access is appropriate. Use Blue Lantern Security's AI exposure monitoring to keep returning to that question as connected apps change. If your business also uses Microsoft 365, follow the Microsoft 365 AI app access walkthrough.