according to a recent Jefferies study, highlighting the resilience of security spending even as enterprises ramp up AI investments.

A survey of 30 CIOs and IT decision makers found that no one expects cybersecurity to be among the top areas subject to budget cuts to fund AI initiatives, highlighting the critical importance of security in corporate IT priorities. Instead, companies are willing to reallocate spending from other areas of IT, such as services and software, while maintaining or even expanding cybersecurity investments.

This reflects a broader industry trend, where growing digital threats, regulatory pressure, and the increasing complexity of IT environments continue to drive high demand for cybersecurity solutions. As enterprises deploy more AI tools, the need to protect data, models, and infrastructure is becoming increasingly important, not optional.

At the same time, AI is beginning to transform parts of the cybersecurity landscape. A Jefferies study found that areas such as threat intelligence and code security are viewed as most vulnerable to disruption by large language model vendors, given AI's strengths in pattern recognition and data analysis. In contrast, more critical functions such as identification, network security, and endpoint protection are viewed as less at risk due to the need for high reliability and accuracy.

Expenditures directly related to securing AI systems are still relatively small, but growing. On average, companies allocate approximately 6-7% of their cybersecurity budgets to AI-related security, and this figure is expected to increase over time as adoption accelerates.

Overall, the study's findings suggest that AI is more likely to act as a tailwind than a threat to cybersecurity spending, strengthening the sector's defensive capabilities even in the face of rapid technological change.