2026 SANS AI Survey Insights: Poisoned Wells and Pure Springs: Drawing Security and Compromise from the same AI Source

Four years after the public debut of ChatGPT, the cybersecurity landscape has entered a new phase, where AI is no longer just a tool, but a battleground.

The 2026 SANS AI Research Survey explores this unprecedented duality: the same generative AI technologies empowering defenders are equally leveraged by attackers. Security teams are now tasked with using AI to secure systems while simultaneously defending against AI-driven threats.

What You’ll Learn

  • How many teams have actually deployed AI in security operations
  • Which use cases show results, and which have underdelivered
  • Budget, staffing, and training trends for AI integration
  • Real-world examples of AI-enhanced attacks seen in the wild
  • Which defense strategies have succeeded and failed against them
  • Patterns in attacker behavior powered by generative AI
  • Confidence levels in AI-generated decisions during threat detection and response
  • False positive rates, automation hesitations, and decision overruling
  • Human-AI collaboration friction points
  • How organizations balance investment between AI for defense and AI risk mitigation
  • Strategic shifts in response to evolving attacker capabilities

To download the report associated with this webinar, please click here.

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