A reality check on the role of machine learning in cybersecurity

This article is part of Demystifying AI, a series of posts that (try to) disambiguate the jargon and myths surrounding AI. Cybersecurity, a huge industry worth over $100 billion, is regularly subject to buzzwords. Cybersecurity companies often (pretend) to use new state-of-the-art technologies to attract customers and sell their solutions. Naturally, with artificial intelligence being in one of its craziest hype cycles, we're seeing plenty of solutions that claim to use machine learning, deep learning and other AI-related technologies to automatically secure the networks and digital assets of their clients. But contrary to what many companies profess, machine learning is not a silver bullet that will automatically protect individuals and organizations against security threats, says Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of ImmuniWeb, a company that uses AI to test the security of web and mobile applications.