Eighty-one percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) think Artificial Intelligence (AI) is crucial to the state and future of cybersecurity, according to a 2019 SME Cyber Security Report by Senseon. 

Key findings in the report include:

• 88 percent of SMEs have a dedicated security budget, more than half (53 percent) think increased budget would help them deal with their cybersecurity workload. However, budgetary constraints are impacting the adoption of new technologies, like AI, among SMEs. 52 percent say the cost of AI-based solutions is the greatest hurdle to their adoption.
• 69 percent of SMEs are looking to implement AI security solutions in the next five years, with 44 percent planning to invest in AI/ML defense in the immediate future.
• 76 percent of respondents agree that AI could improve the efficiency of their day-to-day jobs. 81 percent say AI will be able to improve the security posture of their organizations.
• 49 percent believe their businesses will see an overall net loss due to cybersecurity investment.
• 52 percent of respondents say cost, marketing hype (24 percent) and a lack of knowledge of AI (36 percent) is a barrier to the adoption of AI in their organizations.