Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to software techniques that perform tasks usually associated with human judgment, such as classification, prediction, decision support, or language generation. In security operations, AI can help analysts triage alerts, detect anomalies, summarize logs, and automate repetitive tasks. It matters because these systems can process more data than humans can, but they also inherit risks from their data, configuration, and users.
In cyber security, AI appears in both attacks and defenses. Defenders use machine learning to spot phishing, malware behavior, and suspicious access patterns. Attackers may use generative AI to create convincing phishing messages, support social engineering, or probe systems for weak points. AI systems can also be attacked directly through prompt injection, data poisoning, or manipulated inputs that cause unsafe or incorrect outputs. For that reason, secure AI use requires human review, access controls, logging, and testing for failure modes, not just accurate models.