AI is forcing organisations to grow up about cyber security leadership

Artificial intelligence has moved from innovation topic to boardroom agenda item in record time. For many organisations, the question is no longer whether they will use AI, but how quickly they can integrate it into products, operations and decision-making.

What is less discussed is what that shift means for cyber security leadership.

AI does not simply introduce new technical considerations. It changes how organisations think about risk, trust and accountability. The challenge is not just protecting systems. It’s now about governing how new technology is adopted, monitored and understood at senior level.

Amy Lemberger, former FTSE-250 Chief Information Security Officer and founder of The CISO Hub, says the conversation around AI is revealing something far deeper about how organisations approach cyber risk.

“AI is exposing whether security is genuinely part of leadership thinking,” she says. “When adoption moves quickly, governance must keep pace. That requires senior level judgement and thinking, not just tools.”

Recent global risk reports show AI rising sharply on corporate risk registers alongside cyber disruption and operational resilience. Boards are asking new questions about data usage, model integrity, third-party exposure and decision transparency. Those questions are not purely technical. They sit at the intersection of legal, operational and reputational risk.

For many organisations, this is a turning point. AI adoption forces a clearer view of data quality, access control, supplier risk and oversight structures. Weak governance becomes visible faster. Strong governance becomes a competitive advantage.

Lemberger argues that the response should not be to slow innovation, but to strengthen leadership maturity.

“AI isn’t something security teams can just bolt on at the end,” she says. “It changes how entire global organisations operate. That means leaders need absolute clarity about accountability, risk appetite and oversight.”

In practice, this means boards need structured reporting, clear lines of responsibility and a realistic understanding of how AI interacts with existing systems. It also means security leaders must communicate in business an commercial terms, not technical ones.

AI is accelerating digital transformation across the UK economy. As organisations integrate AI into customer services, analytics, supply chains and internal workflows, expectations around trust and resilience significantly rise alongside it.

The shift underway is less about defending against a new category of threat and more about evolving governance to match technological ambition.

As Lemberger puts it, “AI is not just testing systems anymore. It’s testing leadership.”

For organisations willing to treat AI as a governance issue rather than simply a technical upgrade, the opportunity is clear. Strong security leadership becomes an enabler of innovation, not a brake on it.