Will Cybersecurity Be Replaced by AI? A Deep Dive
By Barsha Bhattacharya
30 May, 2025
Security
Well, the answer to that can be difficult to determine right now.
Even though AI holds a lot of potential in several aspects, there is still time to make an absolute statement and go into full-fledged automation.
Now, the focus is more on making the lives of cybersecurity professionals easier.
It is not about whether AI is supposed to make people obsolete or if Cybersecurity will be replaced with AI; it aims to make systems more effective and efficient.
Hence, the argument of “Will cybersecurity be replaced by AI?” is about understanding the scope for incorporating AI in cybersecurity.
Will Cybersecurity Be Replaced By AI? Understanding The Evolution of AI and How It Can Replace Cybersecurity
To understand the scope of AI in Cybersecurity, it is important to understand the evolution of both AI and Cybersecurity. Here is a breakdown of how AI has evolved.
- The journey of AI may be traced back to the early 1950s when Claude Shannon introduced a robotic mouse. The mouse navigated the maze and learned the correct path to a particular target.
- The next major step occurred in Backgammon in the 1990s when Gerald Tesauro at IBM developed TD-Gammon, an intelligent software.
This development was crucial, as it shocked the world by beating humans who were playing against him. It was also a marvel, as this software could make difficult decisions to support its actions.
Advancements In AI After 2000
The Early 2000s also came in with several changes, and the world was introduced to multiple new things, which may include several things such as
- The large-scale text translation.
- Realistic photogeneration
- Automatic Subtitles.
- CAPTCHA codes that could differentiate between humans and bots.
In today’s era, since access to AI and other intelligent software has been democratised, people can use AI for many of their day-to-day chores, such as booking flights, tracking biometrics, or even making a Presentation.
All these advancements may have made people think that now anything can be achieved, and hence, similar to how it is done in other fields as well.
So, several naive minds put forward an argument that AI can replace highly skilled professionals.
Although AI, like every other field, has made the work of cybersecurity professionals easier, the involvement of professional cybersecurity techies remains crucial to protecting the systems and data that run AI.
Hence, at no point in time may it be possible for AI to make the professionals working in the field obsolete.
However, the main focus remains to make people more efficient with the use of AI instead of making professionals obsolete.
Applicability of AI in Cyber Security: Will Cybersecurity be Replaced by AI?
The scope for the Application of AI in cybersecurity remains vivid.
AI may include comparatively simpler things such as password protection, phishing detection, and automatic updates for software.
In recent years, professionals working in the field have found several other advanced ways in which AI might help.
The two most common uses are Automatically Detecting Threats and generating a security process.
How Can AI Help in Threat Detection?
Automatically Detecting Threats may be one of the advanced uses of AI in cybersecurity.
One of the biggest possibilities of AI in cybersecurity is threat detection.
In this process, with the help of proper automation, AI can detect threats automatically.
With the help of appropriate tech and the right data set, AI can build a protective shield against malicious software.
AI can add an extra layer of security to sensitive data by consistently monitoring access attempts. It can identify new sets of malware and ensure that there are security alerts.
AI keeps learning from the data with which it interacts, which helps it to stay at par with the cybersecurity trends. Hence, teaching AI the new techniques is not very important at all.
AI can help in providing insights to the cybersecurity team, and after receiving that data, the cybersecurity team may also give their valuable feedback to AI.
In this, AI and Human knowledge influence each other, making an eternal loop of learning.
How AI Helps in Enhancing Efficiency
The involvement of AI can increase efficiency in several ways.
It increases the scope for people to work on several other things, instead of focusing on the day-to-day chores of cybersecurity, like:
- Periodic data collection
- Firewall monitoring
- Network status updates
Instead of occupying cybersecurity personnel, they can now focus on things that require more human attention.
Enhanced Security with AI by Tracking Behavioral Patterns
AI can analyze the following contextual and subtle data from users to track behavioral patterns.
- Login times
- Locations, etc.
Unusual variations can be indicators of a threat. So, these security risks need immediate attention.
Consequences of AI: Will Cybersecurity Be Replaced by AI?
As much as we discuss the benefits of AI in the Cyber Security department, AI can also be used by people who are willing to engage in activities of data theft and other malicious activities.
It is a tool that can be used by both people who are eager to protect and secure the systems as well as those who are trying to attack these systems.
Hackers can use Chat GPT and other language tools in writing more convincing phishing scams. Hackers may even detect the potential easy targets while training AI and causing data theft.
Malicious users will always try to find loopholes in AI Algorithms, and then they might disrupt the algorithmic behaviour to make sure that it works in accordance with them.
Wrapping it Up: Will Cybersecurity be Replaced by AI?
AI can enhance cybersecurity by making the job of the Cybersecurity Cell easier.
The scope for the use of AI is massive, and the usability of AI enhances the scope for security in several ways.
Even though AI can be useful in several ways, it cannot replace CyberSecurity personnel in an organization.
Using AI may not be the most rational thing to do, as it is important to have professionals if there is any problem related to malfunctioning.
So, AI can help cybersecurity professionals, but it cannot replace them.
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