Current implementation trends show AI operational use expanding in troubleshooting (41%) and log analysis (35%).

Concerns about loss of control (60%) continue to slow AI adoption.

46% of respondents at investment adviser firms reported increased compliance testing around AI—up from 32% last year, but 44% of firms that have adopted AI tools have no formal testing or validation of the outputs from their AI tools.

Over the next 3–5 years, both leaders and analysts expect autonomous SOC operations to become the norm

63% of analysts state that AI is improving the accuracy of investigations. This figure rises to 69% among daily AI users regarding improved investigation accuracy.

57% of investent adviser firms list AI usage as a hot compliance topic.

96% of leaders report they have no plans to reduce headcount as AI adoption accelerates.

100% of security professionals—including both leaders and analysts—state that implementing AI in the Security Operations Centre (SOC) is their top business objective.

75% of analysts indicate that AI tools are already improving their job satisfaction by reducing alert fatigue and automating repetitive triage tasks.

Rural healthcare organisations trail urban ones by 22% in adopting AI-based threat detection.

Subscription prices for generative AI tools like FraudGPT and WormGPT, marketed for illicit uses such as phishing and malware creation, start for as little as $200 per month.

The majority of sensitive data exposure (roughly 85%) due to the use of Chinese GenAI tools occurred via DeepSeek, followed by Moonshot Kimi, Qwen, Baidu Chat and Manus.

1 in 12 employees, or 7.95%, used at least one Chinese GenAI tool at work.

Code and development artifacts made up 32.8% of sensitive data exposed through employee use of Chinese GenAI tools at work.

Among the 1,059 users who engaged with Chinese GenAI tools, there were 535 incidents of sensitive data exposure.

Mergers & acquisitions data accounted for 18.2% of sensitive data exposed through employee use of Chinese GenAI tools at work.

Organisations that implement light-touch guardrails and nudges, rather than blanket blocking of Chinese GenAI tools, have seen up to a 72% reduction in sensitive data exposure, while increasing AI adoption by as much as 300%.

Legal documents made up 4.9% of sensitive data exposed through employee use of Chinese GenAI tools at work.

Customer data represented 12.0% of sensitive data exposed through employee use of Chinese GenAI tools at work.

Financial information accounted for 14.4% of sensitive data exposed through employee use of Chinese GenAI tools at work.