IBM’s Gaurav Agarwal on AI in Cybersecurity Threats

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the cybersecurity landscape by serving as a dual-purpose tool for both defenders and cybercriminals. Gaurav Agarwal, Vice President of Technology for IBM India & South Asia, explains that while AI helps organizations automate threat detection, it also lowers the entry barrier for attackers.

The Double-Edged Sword of Digital Defense

Organisations leverage AI to manage massive datasets, filter incoming information, and reduce false positives during incident response. Threat detection benefits from greater speed and precision when processing anomaly responses, phishing detection, and tracking user behavior.

Simultaneously, malicious actors exploit these exact same technological advancements for their own operations. Attackers utilize artificial intelligence to craft sophisticated phishing campaigns and automate malware development with increased velocity.

The Necessity of Human Oversight

Agarwal emphasizes that despite technological progress, the human-in-the-loop approach remains entirely critical for enterprise security. Artificial intelligence functions primarily as a force multiplier that augments human expertise rather than serving as a complete replacement for human judgment.

Complex decision-making processes and ethical considerations continue to require direct human intervention to properly mitigate evolving digital risks. Human oversight is essential because AI systems are probabilistic rather than deterministic, demanding careful evaluation by experienced personnel.