Fortinet: 91% use AI security, but only 50% say boards get AI risks

The Fortinet report arrives as cybercriminals increasingly use AI to scale, accelerate and evolve attacks, while organizations look to AI to strengthen defense and protect networks at machine speed. The survey data shows this response is nearly universal, with 91% of IT leaders at more than 2,700 organizations saying they use or are considering AI-enabled cybersecurity solutions. Yet the same data reveals a governance gap: only half of respondents believe their board fully understands AI-related cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The report also notes that while nearly three-quarters of respondents say their board views cybersecurity as a business priority, the translation into spending and oversight remains uneven, and half of organizations report that board members or senior executives faced personal consequences after a cyberattack. Fortinet argues that board members do not need to become AI engineers, but they do need enough understanding to ask the right questions, assess risk and provide effective oversight — and that AI literacy should extend beyond the board and security teams to IT staff, software developers and business leaders.