AI Spending Diverts Funds From Cyber Resilience Infrastructure
Enterprise leaders are shifting IT budgets toward artificial intelligence, creating security vulnerabilities by deprioritizing foundational data backup and cyber resilience tools.
Global IT spending is projected to rise 13.5% in 2026, according to Gartner, though this growth is heavily concentrated in artificial intelligence and data centers. This investment trend has created a funding imbalance, with 53% of enterprise leaders reporting that AI initiatives are pulling resources away from other critical IT projects.
David Bennett, CEO of Object First, warns that this shift increases organizational vulnerability by deprioritizing immutable backup storage and foundational cyber resilience. This risk arrives as AI-powered cyber threats become more prevalent; 89% of IT and security workers surveyed by Object First express fear that these advanced threats will jeopardize their data.
Bennett argues that while AI generates significant business value, long-term continuity requires a zero-trust security framework and robust recovery processes. He emphasizes that organizations must balance AI adoption with the infrastructure necessary to withstand ransomware and catastrophic data loss.
