What are executives’ AI concerns?

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Assessing executive worries and company readiness

“AI will almost certainly increase the volume and heighten the impact of cyber attacks over the next two years,” according to a report published by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre in January 2024.

As the world braces for a surge in AI-assisted attacks, business leaders must anticipate and then avoid risks. We wanted to know more about their primary security-related AI concerns and how prepared they are to guard against attacks.

Executives selected data privacy (74%) as their top prompted concern, followed closely by security risks (71%).

These concerns are generally consistent across roles, with a few exceptions: CISOs are more concerned about regulatory compliance, and CIOs are more concerned about the workforce’s understanding of AI. Although respondents united around two primary worries, they report

mixed levels of concern about AI’s impact on security at their organizations: 34% say they’re slightly concerned, 28% suggest they’re moderately concerned, and 11% report they’re extremely concerned. Only 3% report being not at all concerned, meaning that for the majority of executives, concern is a constant, regardless of how acutely it’s felt.

So, how ready are companies to defend against AI-fueled security threats when they come knocking?

More than half (54%) of the surveyed executives say their organizations are somewhat prepared to defend against AI-driven attacks. Seventeen percent of respondents characterize their organizations as either somewhat unprepared or very unprepared.

EMEA has a slight lead in perceived preparedness, with 67% of respondents from that region saying their companies are very prepared or somewhat prepared to defend against AI-driven threats. For perspective, 50% of APAC executives and 58% of AMER respondents describe their companies as very prepared or somewhat prepared.

Executive takeaways: What worries them about AI

Executives shared what concerns them the most regarding AI’s impact on security. Although the list was expansive, one specific worry took the lead: Generative AI tools are helping make phishing attacks more effective. Here are some more of their reflections:

“People are always your biggest threat in security. AI is becoming more and more lifelike as time progresses, and hackers are becoming faster, adaptable, and innovative. Without educating our internal team sufficiently on the threats of AI, I believe we are opening ourselves up to greater risk of a human-enabled security threat.” (CTO, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, APAC)

“Rogue actors using AI to gain access to protected data.” (CIO, Finance & Banking, AMER)

“As always, it’s the unknown: How are threat actors deviously planning to leverage AI against us? It is a very powerful tool for good as well as for bad.” (CSO / CISO, Technology, AMER)