How AI could make it harder for governments to use hacking tools

AI-driven vulnerability discovery could materially change the security landscape by making software more resilient and reducing the pool of exploitable bugs that governments and other attackers rely on. For CIOs, the strategic implication is a potential shift from today’s “exploit-and-patch” equilibrium toward stronger defensive tooling, more secure-by-design development, and renewed policy pressure for backdoors or exceptional access if offensive hacking becomes harder. IT organizations should expect both faster bug discovery and higher expectations to remediate vulnerabilities quickly, while also preparing for continued demand for advanced offensive capabilities against the remaining high-value flaws.