When Vint Cerf, the father of the internet, posts a link with “Thought-provoking read on AI Impact.,” you read it.
What he linked to is a blog post by Matt Shumer that follows on from numerous such posts from those creating the AI revolution. There is a feeling in the air that the Intelligence Explosion is nigh.
In other words, the scenario that I wrote about last April is happening right on schedule. In the AI 2027 report it was projected that by 2026 AI would be used more and more to create the next LLMs. As Shumer notes that is exactly what happened in the creation of OpenAI’s latest model, 5.3 Codex.
Shumer attempts to convey the rapid progression of AI models:
In 2022, AI couldn’t do basic arithmetic reliably. It would confidently tell you that 7 × 8 = 54.
By 2023, it could pass the bar exam.
By 2024, it could write working software and explain graduate-level science.
By late 2025, some of the best engineers in the world said they had handed over most of their coding work to AI.
On February 5th, 2026, new models arrived that made everything before them feel like a different era.
Read Shumar’s thoughts before turning to the microcosm of cybersecurity.
When I wrote in April How Does an Intelligence Explosion Impact the Future of Cybersecurity? the IT-Harvest Dashboard tracked 96 AI Security vendors with 15 of those focused on SOC Automation.
As I get ready to go to print on Guardians of the Machine Age: Why AI Security Will Define the Future of Digital Defense, we track 375 AI Security vendors. Almost all of them founded since 2022.
There are 58 companies tackling SOC Automation. They have received over $1.3 billion in funding.
2026 is the year that AI security will become part of every organization’s security tool kit. They may be small projects to begin with but as they begin having an impact on security outcomes AI Security solutions will take over our industry. By this time next year there will be no sense to tracking “AI Security” as a stand-alone category. Every vendor will be AI Security.