Predicting the Six Biggest Impacts AI Will Have on OT Cybersecurity

Manufacturing Business Technology surveyed cybersecurity leaders on the biggest AI impacts headed for operational technology environments in 2026. I contributed predictions on three converging risks that most organizations are not yet monitoring.

The first prediction centers on AI systems as insider threats. As agentic AI gains system-level permissions across email, file storage, and identity platforms, organizations will need to monitor machine behavior the same way they monitor employees. The uncomfortable reality is that most AI assistants already have broader access than most employees, and they operate entirely outside traditional user behavior analytics. The first time an AI agent gets compromised through prompt injection or a supply chain attack and begins exfiltrating data under the guise of helping users, organizations will realize they built privileged access with no monitoring.

The second prediction involves legal accountability. By Q2 2026, we will likely see a company sue an AI-assisted system after the AI makes a decision that causes measurable business harm. This will force the industry to confront questions it has been deferring: who is liable when an AI you gave permission to act on your behalf does something harmful? The vendor? The company? The AI itself?

The third prediction addresses the machine identity crisis that will intensify as AI agents and IoT ecosystems grow beyond organizations’ ability to track non-human accounts effectively.

Quoted in Manufacturing Business Technology Read the full article →