While cybersecurity companies leverage AI to enhance threat detection, cybercriminals are weaponizing the same technology for automated phishing and malware attacks —highlighted by the fact that 43 percent of organizations believe hackers are using AI-driven methods to boost their effectiveness. To stay protected, organizations must adopt AI-powered platforms rather than relying on isolated tools. Artificial intelligence has firmly established its presence in enterprise cybersecurity. According to data from Kaspersky’s 2026 global study, almost 100 percent of organizations in APAC – including firms in markets like Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam – intend to incorporate AI into security operations. This is consistent with solution providers embedding AI into their workflows to accelerate detection, reduce analyst workload and counter-attacks that move faster than human responders can manage. On the other hand, cybercriminals are using it to automate reconnaissance, generate convincing phishing content and scale operations that would previously have required significant resources and expertise. This symmetry is the challenge. Every AI-driven capability available to cybersecurity providers is also available, or adaptable, to attackers. According to Kaspersky data, 21 percent of organisations believe cybercriminals are ahead in the technology arms race, with 43 percent saying criminals are able to adopt new technologies like AI to increase the effectiveness of their attacks. Security leaders need to understand how AI is being weaponized, invest in AI-powered protection that is genuinely integrated into daily security workflows and approach the organisational and technical challenges of AI implementation with the same rigour applied to any critical infrastructure decision. AI-based threats: How cybercriminals are using AI The adoption of AI by threat actors is systematic. Attackers are integrating generative AI across the full attack chain: automating the creation of phishing lures, generating functional malicious code, improving the evasiveness of payloads and making social engineering more convincing at scale. What previously