Empower Innovation with AI Secured by Fortinet Fabric

In his presentation at AI Field Day 7, Max Zeumer from Fortinet discussed how the rapid adoption of generative AI has transformed the threat landscape and the imperative for organizations to secure their AI usage. He began by highlighting the explosive growth of generative AI compared to past technologies, stressing that enterprises must adapt quickly to its integration. While some organizations are implementing AI in a structured way with governance and compliance, most are still in the early stages and lack visibility and control, which introduces significant risk. Zeumer noted that as AI progresses from reactive prompt-based tools to agentic and autonomous systems, enterprises face mounting challenges to secure data, manage usage, and maintain compliance.

Zeumer emphasized that quickly evolving AI tools also present new vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity space. Threat actors have begun using AI to create convincing phishing attacks, social engineering campaigns, and malware, often lowering the technical barrier for carrying out sophisticated cyberattacks. In addition, internal risks were discussed, such as employees unknowingly feeding sensitive company data into public AI platforms. This lack of governance can lead to data leakage and regulatory breaches. Fortinet sees a growing need for enterprises to monitor the various applications of AI within their organizations, understand who is using it, how, and what data is being processed, especially as adversaries increasingly employ AI in weaponized forms.

To address these emerging concerns, Fortinet has developed a comprehensive AI-integrated cybersecurity framework called Fortinet Security Fabric, powered by its proprietary AI platform, FortiAI. This system is structured around three main pillars—FortiAI Protect, Assist, and Secure AI—covering threat detection and prevention, operational augmentation, and safeguarding AI systems themselves. FortiGuard Labs plays a fundamental role by continuously collecting sophisticated threat intelligence and feeding it into these systems. This allows customers to receive accurate, real-time insights, manage risk from generative AI applications, and set governance rules. Fortinet’s unified platform and deep AI capabilities, backed by over 500 patents and years of innovation, position it to help enterprises adopt AI securely while maintaining performance and compliance.