Survey: Widespread Adoption of AI Hasn’t Yet Reduced Cybersecurity Burnout
Survey: Widespread Adoption of AI Hasn’t Yet Reduced Cybersecurity Burnout
Publish Date: 2026-02-11 15:42:00
Source Domain: securityboulevard.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
A global survey of 1,813 IT and cybersecurity professionals finds that despite the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, cybersecurity teams still spend on average 44% of their time on manual or repetitive work.Conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Tines, a provider of an automation platform, the survey also notes that as the amount of work continues to increase, so too does the level of burnout. A full 81% said security workloads increased in 2025, with more than three quarters (76%) experiencing burnout and 39% attributing that burnout specifically to heavy workloads.In comparison, just over a quarter attributed burnout to the stresses of incident response, while 26% cited repetitive tasks. A total of 60% also noted they are spending at least 40% of their time on repetitive tasks that could be automated, the survey findsThe main obstacles to automation are security or compliance concerns (35%), budget or resource constraints (32%), integration gaps between tools (31%), legacy or outdated systems (30%) and insufficient skills or training (29%). Additionally, the top challenges with existing tools are high maintenance costs (42%), limited automation (34%), overlapping functionality (33%) and lack of integration (31%).Conversely, the top benefits of automation are higher productivity (48%), faster response times (41%), better data accuracy (40%), stronger compliance (34%), quicker decision-making (33%), better team visibility (33%) and smoother collaboration (33%).While the full impact of AI and automation has not yet been realized, nearly all respondents (99%) said security operations centers have embedded AI to some degree in their workflows. Areas where AI is proving most effective are threat intelligence and detection (61%), identity and access monitoring (56%), compliance and policy writing (56%), phishing or email analysis (55%), ticket triage and workflow automation (53%), reporting and communication (53%), log analysis (53%) developer support and code review (53%), security and awareness training (48%) and vulnerability management (47%).A total of 86% of respondents report feeling optimistic about the degree to which AI will create new career opportunities. A total of 81% also noted their team is prepared to hire or reskill for new AI-related roles. With 73% also expecting their technology stacks to expand in the next 12 months versus only 7% that expect consolidation.Thomas Kinsella, chief customer officer for Tines, said overall the survey suggests that cybersecurity teams are now rapidly evolving in the age of AI. The challenge, of course, is that as AI makes it possible to detect more threats faster, the speed at which cybersecurity teams are being asked to mitigate those threats is also increasing, he added.More challenging still, it’s also apparent the adversaries are also embracing AI to launch cyberattacks at higher volume that are also much more sophisticated, noted Kinsella. At the same time, many of the AI tools that organizations are adopting are generally insecure, which only serves to increase the overall size of the attack surface that needs to be defended, he said.On the plus side, 87% of respondents report that the boards of their organizations paid more attention to cybersecurity in the last year. However, only 43% said the board views cybersecurity function as a strategic enabler, with 51% finding it extremely or very challenging to align security initiatives with broader business objectivesHopefully, in the age of AI more business leaders will come to appreciate the strategic value of cybersecurity. However, if history is any guide, that perspective is all too often only achieved in the wake of an actual catastrophic event.
