Fletcher Keister is the chief product and technology officer at GTT.getty​We have crossed a threshold. For years, enterprise leaders have been told that AI-enabled cyberthreats are coming. Now they are here, and the window to prepare is closing. AI can autonomously find vulnerabilities, build exploits, chain them together and execute attacks at a speed and scale no human security team can match. Enterprises that aren't actively responding will be the first to be exposed.It’s Not An Evolution; It’s A MutationEveryone knows AI has changed things. But "evolving" is the wrong word for what's happening. Evolution is gradual; you can road map for it and phase into it at a measured pace. This is a mutation: sudden and radical. Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview, announced on April 7, 2026, is a perfect example.The model developed capabilities no one explicitly built into it. Mythos autonomously discovered thousands of previously unknown vulnerabilities across every major OS and web browser, including flaws that had survived decades of human-led security review. It then developed fully functional exploits without human guidance. More than half of the exploit attempts succeeded.Recognizing that publicly releasing Mythos would be irresponsible given its offensive potential, Anthropic formed Project Glasswing, a coalition that includes AWS, Apple, Microsoft, Google, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and others, with access granted to approximately 40 additional organizations.The broader market isn't standing still. Google, ServiceNow and others have already launched commercially available autonomous security platforms, and more are coming. Each new model will be more capable than the last, and each mutation will be harder to anticipate. Responding to them requires rethinking the foundational layer where attacks actually happen: the network.The Network Is The Front LineMost enterprise networks were created as simple pipelines. Their job was to move data from point A to point B reliably and fast. Security was added afterward as a separate layer, handled by other systems and teams. That model produced a reactive security posture—building walls, restricting access, monitoring for breaches and responding when an identified threat gets through.That reactive posture was designed for a world where attacks required significant time and human expertise. But AI-enabled adversaries require neither. They can autonomously probe public-facing systems, APIs, endpoints and applications until they find a way in. And as enterprises deploy more AI agents, automate more workflows and connect more systems, the attack surface will continue to expand. Every system, integration and AI capability an enterprise has ever connected or configured is a potential entry point. That means the network has to become part of the solution. An AI-native network has AI built into its core infrastructure from the ground up, making threat detection, real-time traffic analysis, automated response and continuous attack surface monitoring native functions of the network itself. Security stops being a reactive layer sitting on top of the infrastructure and becomes inseparable from it, identifying anomalies before they become vulnerabilities and closing gaps before AI agents can find and exploit them.Security Strategy And Network Strategy Are One ConversationA proactive, AI-native security posture is not a network team responsibility or a security team responsibility. It must be built into the fabric of how an enterprise runs its AI initiatives from the start. Most enterprises are running their AI and network security strategies as parallel workstreams, with separate owners, budgets and timelines. But every AI model, agent and workflow runs on the network, the entry point for all exploits. Running these as separate workstreams means the strategy and solutions that determine your security are being managed by people who aren’t talking to each other. This creates gaps, and attackers will find them.The urgency extends beyond the security team. This is a conversation for the CEO, CFO, CRO and board, not just the CIO and CISO. Security posture has direct financial implications, affecting enterprise risk, business continuity, governance and the cost and coverage of cyber insurance. A single breach today can trigger regulatory penalties, litigation and reputational damage. Boards that treat network security as an IT line item rather than a strategic priority are leaving their organizations exposed in ways that will eventually show up on the balance sheet.Mythos Preview confirmed that the threshold has been crossed. The window to get ahead of this reality is closing fast. We must act now. Start by putting network strategy on the same agenda as AI strategy, and make sure the same people are in the room for both conversations.Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?