The contest between AI-powered attack and defence has emerged as a key focus in the global cybersecurity industry, as hackers use AI to rapidly find gaps in IT systems and launch attacks while security firms deploy AI to identify flaws and build defences. Experts remain divided on which side has the advantage. Developments in AI coding tools and AI agents are lowering barriers for attackers, even as AI is also helping find and fix real bugs faster.

As AI spreads inside companies, security risks are growing, and Microsoft is highlighting “ambient” and “autonomous” as key concepts. Mick Doone (믹 듄), a senior security adviser manager for Asia Pacific, said security must be built into systems from the design stage and operate continuously across identity, endpoints, cloud, data and AI agents. He said prompt and response tampering and agent-connected plugins can become attack paths.