6 Unforgettable Quotes on AI from Forcepoint AWARE 2025

The pace at which AI is transforming the way we live and work is unprecedented. When ChatGPT was released to the public, it reached 100 million active users in just two months, making it the fastest-growing consumer app in history.  

In fact, AI adoption is accelerating faster than data security and governance models were ever designed to support.  

The leaders who spoke at the Forcepoint AWARE 2025 virtual AI user conference have confronted that challenge firsthand while protecting globally significant organizations. Their insights go beyond theory.

AWARE attendees heard eyewitness accounts from the front lines about how AI is shifting the data security landscape. These insights focus on how to know what and where your sensitive data is, adapt rapidly to novel threats and achieve a context-based data security posture.

1. AI creates new social-engineering superpowers for attackers

In a discussion around emerging cyber risk, Emirates NBD CISO Darwish Azad detailed how adversaries are already using generative AI to blend reconnaissance, persuasion and exfiltration in dangerous new ways.

There’s voice cloning that happens. There’s big deepfake videos that are being sent around. There’s context-specific reconnaissance happening on staff and customers to launch social engineering… 

... using multi-channel approaches like video calls, voice calls, emails… and they’re getting even better at that.

AI-enabled social engineering means the line between human and automated deception is disappearing.

2. Shadow AI is already an enterprise-level data exposure

Naveen Palavalli, CPO and CMO at Forcepoint, explained that employees are turning to AI to move faster, often outside the visibility and guidance of security programs.

Eighty nine percent of enterprise say that AI usage happens invisibly outside formal governance, identity or tracking... Data does not sit still.

Data is now flowing through tools that do not enforce governance or track lineage. Security must extend to wherever real work takes place.

3. AI is now both the offensive weapon and the defensive engine

Automation is no longer exclusive to attackers. Palavalli emphasized that AI must accelerate protection as fast as it accelerates productivity.

Every organization today is on an AI journey, whether that is GenAI, agentic workflows or AI-driven SaaS. We are all experiencing this incredible shift: unlocking faster innovation, greater efficiency and more empowered employees. 

But alongside those gains comes the fastest wave of data consumption and risk we have ever seen… AI consumes data everywhere – in applications, in data centers and even directly from people entering prompts into these tools.

Deploying AI in defense is now mission-critical for keeping pace with evolving threats.

Get expert analysis and all the key takeaways from AWARE 2025 here.

4. Static controls cannot keep up with human risk

Alex Martinez, Director of Solutions Architecture for Global Public Sector Partners at AWS, noted that while people remain the biggest vector for breaches, AI accelerates the scale and speed at which human-driven exposure occurs.

AI adoption can expose existing risks by enabling data to move faster and reducing the human-in-the-loop detection companies relied on before.

Risk-adaptive policy enforcement introduces guidance in the moment, keeping productivity high while minimizing exposure.

5. Compliance must evolve alongside AI to protect trust

Ryan Windham, CEO of Forcepoint, pointed to the rising strategic importance of data governance, particularly in global business environments accelerated by AI.

Compliance is no longer a check-the-box exercise. It’s now a core pillar of customer trust and brand reputation. We’re already seeing the impact! E-commerce and SaaS companies are rewriting policies and deleting data on demand. 

Fintech and telecoms are re-architecting for privacy by design. Global companies are reassessing how they store and share data across borders.

Trust now requires continuous verification, and compliance has to be an active and forward-looking component of any data security strategy.

6. One unified system for data security everywhere is the new blueprint

Data moves without boundaries – and so must protection. Palavalli described what comprehensive security must look like in an AI-driven world.

We really need a system that continuously analyzes behavior, automatically applies adaptive risk scoring and enforcement and protects data throughout its entire life cycle – from discovery and classification to lineage and governance, all the way through to detection and remediation.

A single, flexible and contextually informed data security system prevents small risks from becoming large incidents.

How these insights shape the road ahead

Every session reinforced one truth: organizations must enable innovation and protection simultaneously. AI speed demands AI-aware security.

• Momentum needs governance
• Innovation needs automation
• Productivity needs protection

Watch the Forcepoint AWARE 2025 virtual AI summit on demand

These realities represent only a portion of what was shared about the future of data security. Watch the sessions on demand for deeper strategic guidance, practical demonstrations and lessons from leaders defending at global scale.

➡️ Sign up now to watch on demand