Greg Tanner talks about the key points of view when AI meets cybersecurity.
The CEO of Cynthetic Systems talks about AI and the importance of security for organizations thinking about deploying AI.

Everyone is increasingly leaning on artificial intelligence for work. ChatGPT is barely two years old. And yet it’s already becoming part of daily work life for many people.

Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly. Some experts suggest we may achieve artificial general intelligence—machines that can outperform humans in virtually every task—as soon as 2033. The implications are profound, potentially reshaping industries, economies and the very nature of work.

But there’s a crucial disconnect between technological advancement and mass adaptation by organizations.

Tell us how organizations are using AI and what you are seeing out in the business world.

I am starting to see AI everywhere much like the internet when it started.  The biggest difference I see is the degree of integration into companies. It’s being broadly adopted.  Companies were trying to ban the use of AI due to security concerns, but generative AI is just too good to be blocked.  Employees already use it whether it’s at home or at work, the question is how.  Think back to the day when employees started using the internet at work, bosses tried to stop it but then realized the productivity and competitive advantage outweighed banning it.

What are the biggest challenges for organizations wanting to implement AI?

There are a few.  The first is resistance to change. Surprisingly that resistance is from management and the IT department.  Management doesn’t know much about AI and how to leverage it and IT is simply afraid of the security implications.  Second is the lack of quality data. We are running out of the fresh, valuable data that is needed for LLMs to improve. They already have swallowed up nearly the entire internet. Now they are starting to choke. Integrating AI systems with existing IT infrastructure can also pose a challenge for businesses. Finally, there is a lack of technical expertise to develop and deploy AI algorithms. Many businesses may not have in-house expertise in areas such as machine learning, natural language processing, or data analysis.

What do you see in the future for AI and organizations?

I am starting to see the haves and have nots gap grow very quickly.  The transformations in 5 years will be profound.  AI will reach unprecedented levels of capability which will reshape industries and jobs. You will see new skills, processes and business models invented. 

The successful companies all have one thing in common. They didn’t simply buy into AI hype. Instead, they methodically apply a task-based approach. They recognize that tasks—not jobs, products, or skills—are the fundamental units of organizations.

AI will stop being seen as a new technology—and will become just an assumed part of everyday work and life like the internet.

With all of that will come a very important need to secure the AI itself.

How do you secure the AI?

It’s the same approach as applying a cybersecurity posture for your organization.  You govern access to AI services and data. Then secure the AI pipeline and there are some new things to consider such as securing prompts, prevent data poisoning and secure the AI models themselves. 

At Cynthetic Systems we use a layered approach and some unique tools offered by our partners at CheckPoint.  

We use an AI engine to learn about the threats and network activity.   We also use a next-generation firewall to apply policies and access control to AI models on the web. 

Most of our customers containerize their data locally or in a data center and that firewall acts as a first line of defense. 

We secure the use of AI on the device, in email and in the cloud and leverage our threat intelligence to enhance the security operations.  

What sets us apart is we secure the AI itself by watching the AI model use, applications, application sessions, and content sources.  It gives “smart visibility” through logging and prompt visibility.  We get continuous and actionable data.

It gives us next level AI security that provides micro segmentation, optimized performance and fast, out of the box deployment.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your work in AI or your vision for its future?

You will start to see companies starting to really transform their businesses and how they do business.  When we started in 2021 we didn’t know what we were going to do with AI but knew that we needed to start as soon as possible.  Now we use it throughout our daily work and use it to do tasks and watch that the tasks are being done in a secure manner. We have a data container which we use to have our AI learn from all the things we do.  It helps so much with decision making and doing redundant tasks,  I am working on my personal AI assistant help with handling both personal and work tasks. I am hoping to have it become a true collaborator with me in the future.