AI vulnerability discovery scores the highest impact of 20 emerging risks

Gartner survey of 316 organizations ranks AI-driven vulnerability discovery as the top emerging risk, with tangible impact expected within roughly two years.

Gartner's quarterly survey had 316 risk managers, auditors, and senior executives rank 20 emerging threats in April and May, with AI discovery of cyber vulnerabilities ranked first, up from outside the top five the prior quarter. Respondents scored the impact time frame at 1.92 on a scale where 1 means under a year and 2 means one to two years, and 76% placed it in their top ten, ranking first in all four regions and highest among banking and financial respondents at 78%. The analysis notes AI now finds unknown flaws at volumes patching teams cannot absorb and that exploit development time has collapsed, citing defensive efforts like Anthropic's Project Glasswing and OpenAI's Daybreak. Gartner recommends recalibrating cyber risk impact, revisiting risk appetite, demanding stronger vendor security validation, and moving toward faster automated remediation.