AI Access Offboarding When Someone Leaves Your Team

When someone leaves, disabling their main account is only the first step. AI access also lives in API keys, OAuth grants, agents, note-taker bots, scheduled jobs and shared tokens, and some of these keep working after the person is gone. Disable sign-in first, then revoke tokens, replace shared keys, and transfer anything the team depends on.

Our AI security checklist covers offboarding briefly. This guide goes further, since AI tools have added access paths that older offboarding lists never considered. A leaver can be a trusted colleague and this still matters. Forgotten access is a problem regardless of anyone's intent, because an old token can be misused by anyone who finds it.

Before the last day

1. Choose one person to own the checklist.
2. List the AI tools this person uses, including ones paid for personally or tried on a free plan.
3. Ask them to hand over agents, projects, automations and prompts that the team needs.
4. Find out which automations run under their name. These often break quietly after an account is removed.
5. Plan replacements for any key or token you know they hold.

If the departure is sudden or tense, skip the handover and go straight to the steps below.

Step 1: Disable identity and sessions

Start with your identity provider, since single sign-on can cut off many tools at once.

Microsoft Entra

Microsoft's guide lists these actions: disable the user, revoke their refresh tokens with Revoke sessions, and disable their devices. It warns that this is not instant. Access tokens can last about an hour by default, and Entra cannot directly revoke a session token an app has issued itself.

Google Workspace

Google's offboarding guidance includes wiping mobile devices, removing recovery details, changing the password, revoking OAuth tokens, resetting sign-in cookies, and revoking security keys and app passwords. Suspending a user keeps their data while you sort things out.

Do not rely on a password change alone. Google says it revokes OAuth tokens only for certain products, and does not cover Apps Script-based apps. Revoke third-party tokens yourself on the user's security page in the Admin console.

Step 2: Remove them from AI workspaces

ChatGPT Business

An owner or admin removes the member from the Members list. OpenAI says access ends immediately. Their projects and GPTs go to a workspace owner, while their own chats and files are not transferred or visible to the owner. Check that article for how retention works on your plan, since the help pages describe this in different ways. Removal alone does not stop billing for the seat, so an owner must also remove the seat.

Claude Team and Enterprise

Go to Organization settings > Members and choose Remove from team, as described in Anthropic's guide. Before you do, ask the person to share any private projects that the team needs.

Other tools

Do the same for each tool on your list, including coding assistants, note-takers, image tools and chatbots. Confirm who owns any shared bots or workspaces.

Step 3: Deal with API keys

This is the step most often missed, because keys do not always follow the person.

Anthropic's Admin API docs show why it matters:

• Personal keys stop working when their user is removed from the organization.
• Service account keys keep working even after the person who created them is removed.
• Workspace keys keep working.
• Admin keys are not tied to one user, so removing the creator does not end them. Anthropic says to delete those keys and create replacements.

Other providers differ, so never assume a key died with an account.

1. List keys in every AI provider's console, and note who created each one.
2. Check usage for each key in the weeks before the departure.
3. Replace any key the person could have seen, including shared keys in password vaults, .env files and chat messages.
4. Update apps, confirm they work, and then revoke the old keys.
5. Set new keys with narrow scopes and clear owners.

Step 4: Check connected apps and agents

• OAuth grants. Review apps connected to company mail, calendar and drive. A note-taker or agent tied to their account may still hold access.
• Calendar bots. Remove note-takers they connected, and check meetings where one still joins.
• MCP servers. Revoke any tokens they created for shared MCP servers, and check team configs in code repositories.
• Scheduled agents. Find recurring tasks, automations and bots that run with their credentials, then move them to a service account.
• Browser agents. If they used a shared browser profile, clear its saved sign-ins and approved sites.
• Custom GPTs and shared projects. Check for private company data, and for connections set up with their personal credentials.

Step 5: Check code and developer tools

1. Remove them from your GitHub or GitLab organization.
2. Review personal access tokens and SSH keys with access to company repositories, using your plan's organization settings.
3. Rotate any secrets in CI that they could read.
4. Check repository settings for new deploy keys, webhooks and GitHub Apps.
5. Remove them from cloud accounts, and rotate cloud keys they held.

Step 6: Check devices and data

• Collect company devices, and wipe or reimage them before reuse.
• Remove company data from personal devices, following your policy.
• Remind the person of any duties they have about company data in personal AI accounts. You usually cannot see these accounts, so a clear policy and a direct conversation are what you have.
• Decide what happens to their chat data, transcripts and recordings, and keep what legal or HR needs.

Step 7: Confirm and record

1. Try signing in with a test, if your process allows it, or review sign-in logs for attempts after the removal.
2. Review AI usage reports for the following two weeks.
3. Record what was removed, by whom and when.
4. Add anything you missed to the checklist for next time.

For a quick look at a returned laptop before you wipe it, Prycheck can show AI apps, agent configs and plain text keys left on the machine.

Frequently asked questions

Does disabling single sign-on remove all AI access?

No. API keys, personal tokens, service accounts and some OAuth grants can keep working on their own. Check each one directly.

What about AI accounts on personal email?

You cannot control those directly. Reduce the risk with a clear policy, company-owned accounts for work, and a reminder at exit. Rotate any company key that may have been used with those accounts.

How quickly should we finish this?

Sign-in and tokens should go at the moment of departure, or before it if needed. Replace shared keys within days, and finish the rest as soon as you can.