In this episode of Widget Wednesday, we take on a topic that’s top of mind for many IT teams right now: AI usage visibility.
Chris Twiest walks through the AI Website Usage Breakdown widget, showing how to surface real-world data on which AI platforms users are actively accessing—such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others—using native capabilities inside ControlUp.
What this widget shows
The widget shows the number of unique devices that accessed specific AI websites over the past week. Instead of assumptions or anecdotal evidence, you get concrete numbers—highlighting which AI tools are actually being used and which ones are trending inside your environment.
Where the data comes from
The data is sourced from end-user activity tracking via Contribute for Desktops, pulling directly from the AI-focused dashboard. Chris also points to the ControlUp knowledge base guidance for enabling URL tracking for AI platforms, ensuring the data is both accurate and actionable.
How the widget is built
Chris walks step by step through the backend configuration, including:
- Selecting the correct data source tied to website usage
- Counting unique devices per AI site
- Structuring the widget to clearly compare usage across platforms
Filtering techniques that matter
A key part of the episode focuses on building smart, flexible filters to isolate exactly the AI traffic you care about:
- OR filters to capture activity across multiple AI platforms
- AND filters for more specific conditions
- NOT filters to exclude irrelevant traffic
- Wildcard matching to account for domain variations and ensure no usage is missed
These same techniques can be reused well beyond AI tracking.
Customization and reuse
Chris also shows how to duplicate and adapt filters for other websites or use cases, including a website comparison dashboard that enables side-by-side analysis of different platforms.
Why this matters
Understanding which AI tools are being used—and how broadly—is critical for governance, security, licensing decisions, and policy discussions. This widget provides a practical, low-friction way to bring real usage data into the conversation.
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Categories: ControlUp Dashboards, Widget Wednesday - ControlUp Dashboard Videos