ByDavid Maclean,
Forbes Staff.
Every second, AI tools guard millions of systems simultaneously — detecting breaches, hunting vulnerabilities and blocking fraud at a scale no human team could match. But attackers are leveraging the same technology to craft sophisticated exploits, automate social engineering and discover weaknesses faster than defenses can evolve.
The result is a widening confidence gap among corporate leadership, according to the Forbes Research 2025 AI Survey of more than 1,000 C-suite executives. It found that 63% believe AI-powered cybersecurity threats could render current protections obsolete every few months, more than double the 29% who held this view last year. A similar number (62%) said AI exacerbates the challenge of ensuring their cybersecurity measures and training are up to date.
One executive surveyed said AI-related cybersecurity threats need “constant attention and adjustment,” while another said their biggest AI challenge is that “operational risk increases and substantial resources are used to protect cybersecurity against ever more sophisticated attacks.”
