The inevitability of AI is forcing many cybersecurity leaders to decide if it’s friend or foe. Treating it as a teammate may be the ultimate solution, but there are a number of pointed questions CISOs should be asking.
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we do just about everything — everywhere we turn, machines are performing tasks that in the past would have been performed by a human. These AI-powered instances run the gamut from autonomous vehicles to customer service bots that must be navigated before a human comes on the line. In cybersecurity, AI has quickly become both a friend and a force multiplier for adversaries. Like it or not, seeing the machine as a teammate has become a reality that CISOs will have to learn to embrace, but they should be asking a number of questions before taking on an AI sidekick.
The concept is not new. In 2019, an international team of 65 collaborative scientists generated 819 research questions on the topic with the intent « to provide a research agenda that collaboration researchers can use to investigate the anticipated effects of designed machine teammates based on the qualified opinions of collaboration researchers. » No doubt, some of the research points evolved from the team of collaborative scientists found their way into the US Department of Defense responsible AI principles and guidance, which captured five data points that any AI must be before being acceptable for use: responsible, equitable, traceable, reliable, and governable.