AI as a Security Threat vs. Force Multiplier

AI as a Security Threat vs. Force Multiplier

We brought together a group of CISOs and senior security leaders for an honest discussion on one of the biggest questions facing the industry today:

Is AI a security threat, or the greatest force multiplier security teams have ever had?

Hosted at our London HQ and moderated by Cary Vidal, the roundtable welcomed leaders from organisations spanning fintech, enterprise, retail and high-growth technology businesses.

Rather than focusing on the latest AI headlines, the discussion explored the practical realities of adopting AI securely, balancing innovation with governance, and preparing security teams for the next wave of change.

🔗 Check out the full summary sheet here

Key themes:

AI governance is becoming the biggest challenge

Attendees agreed that while AI adoption continues to accelerate, governance frameworks are struggling to keep pace. The discussion explored data sovereignty, shadow AI, organisational ownership and why security teams should provide governance rather than carry sole responsibility for AI.

AI is changing how security teams operate

Examples were shared of AI reducing manual effort across security operations, threat intelligence and vulnerability management. Many organisations are already using agentic workflows to eliminate repetitive tasks and allow engineers to focus on higher-value security work.

The future of AI-assisted pen testing

One of the most debated topics centred around agentic penetration testing. While AI is already accelerating vulnerability discovery and reducing noise for engineers, the consensus was that accredited human-led testing remains essential for regulatory assurance, with AI acting as a powerful complement rather than a replacement.

Security culture still matters

Technology alone won't solve security challenges. The group discussed the importance of designing processes that make secure behaviour the easiest behaviour, recognising that people will naturally choose the path of least resistance.

The strongest consensus from the room was that AI is neither a threat nor a silver bullet. Organisations seeing the greatest success are those focusing on governance, clear ownership and practical use cases rather than chasing the latest tooling.