AI for the Future: 5 Reflections on the Cybersecurity Market in Today’s AI-Powered World

While AI has been available for cybersecurity use cases for nearly two decades, it only started to take off in the last two years. In fact, it’s no longer just a tool—it’s the driving force behind the future of the cybersecurity industry.

Since Abnormal was founded in 2018, the focus has always been on leveraging AI to create solutions that protect humans from the dangerous threats targeting them. And over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing firsthand how our commitment to AI is shaping the future of cybersecurity and positioning Abnormal as a leader in this transformation.

From the incredible speed of AI development to the necessity of AI-powered tools in defending against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, it's clear that we're on the cusp of a monumental shift. But at Abnormal, we're not just adapting to this change—we're driving it. Here are a few trends I’ve noticed:

In the same way that the Internet changed everything, AI is changing the world too—at a much faster rate than many expected. If we look back at transformational technologies like the cellphone, laptop, and the cloud, we realize that they all evolved quickly once the initial idea came to fruition. Before we know it, we will have fully autonomous cars, robots in our homes, and all types of autonomous AI “employees” working alongside us. I firmly believe that this AI acceleration is going to happen even faster than even the move to the cloud, driven mainly by the threat actors who know they can exploit current, non-AI-enabled security controls.

Historically, cybersecurity has been built off a “console lead” model in which humans are involved in remediating every attack. However, as attackers use AI to move much more quickly, this world will no longer work—they will exponentially outpace the traditional SLAs that are required when involving humans in the decision-making process. As such, the cybersecurity industry must move to relying on AI-powered automation, where products (not people) respond at superhuman speed to combat attacks.

In an environment where AI-powered products are needed to make decisions at superhuman speed and efficacy, it becomes imperative for security leaders to trust their technology. In order to truly meet cybercriminals where they are, organizations must implement tools that are built with AI at the core—not simply added on as an extra feature. This new paradigm, which we are reaching quite quickly, will leave most of the industry needing to redesign their products from the ground up.

Unfortunately, not every cybersecurity company can simply become an AI company tomorrow. As we’ve seen with Nvidia and OpenAI, the exponential growth of AI comes at exponential costs, and not all companies will be able to afford this shift. While many cybersecurity companies may build products with cool AI use cases, they must also have the gross margins to support them.

Abnormal was founded with a clear vision of becoming a fully automated cybersecurity platform. From day one, our focus has been on building a company that doesn’t just keep up with the rapid evolution of technology, but actually leads it. As we expand our product capabilities, AI isn’t just a feature—it’s the foundation of everything we create. This commitment to innovation and excellence is what sets us apart as a generational company that is built to endure and excel through industry shifts and challenges.

Being a generational company means staying true to our mission of protecting humans with AI, no matter how the market evolves. Our recent milestones, as we crossed $200M in ARR and secured our Series D funding, are not just measures of financial success but validations of the trust our customers place in us and the customer experience we provide for them. Today, we protect more than 17% of the Fortune 500, and this number continues to grow as we demonstrate the unmatched capabilities of AI-driven cybersecurity while keeping our focus on customer obsession at the forefront. Our journey is just beginning, but our trajectory is clear: Abnormal is here to stay, leading the charge in safeguarding the future.

Ready to see what Abnormal can offer you? Request a demo today to see how we’re protecting humans with AI.