Like any other technological innovation, Artificial Intelligence promises both great things and severe risks. This week at the India AI Impact Summit, CEO of ESET, Richard Marko will be on stage with Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind and Cristiano R. Amon of Qualcomm on stage to talk about the stakes. As Jensen Huang pointed out at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, AI is no longer a gimmick, but a multi-layered tool that has matured in very short order into infrastructure.
The AI Era has already seen massive upheaval, from investment portfolios and market confidence, on to geopolitical alignments and the emergence of new bi-lateral partnerships. Less than a month ago we were able to welcome the news of the India – EU free trade deal which created the world's largest free trade zone and the EU – India security & defense partnership.
That both economic and political developments arrive at this critical moment, are no accident. What they represent is an opportunity to build a future where AI becomes a key enabler to positive growth of communities and commerce, one that vastly outweighs its use for bad. Cybersecurity and digital trust are intrinsic to successful AI. ESET began its AI journey decades ago and has been joined by additional vendors who are reliant on employing foundational technologies including neural networks and machine learning. Simply, AI tools remain critical, augmenting the work of researchers and defenders across the industry. These use cases are now joined by the application of large language models to produce exciting new capabilities and opportunities for application to security purposes.
But there are risks: AI vulnerabilities are the fastest-growing cyber security concern; within the last few weeks, MoltBot has shown exactly why. Too often, users often place blind trust in AI, even when the security guardrails are missing or incomplete. Attackers also increasingly use AI to automate their work. ESET was among the first to identify proof of concept malware like PromptLock and perform detailed analysis of AI-driven threats in-the-wild including sophisticated crypto theft and AI-based deception by DeceptiveDevelopment.
For sure we’re going to hear and learn a great deal at the Summit over the next few days. For good and bad, the current iteration of Artificial Intelligence represents massive change for society as a whole, not just a technology or industry sector.
The fact that cyber threats ignore borders, rules and laws means that governments around the world must respond, and do so at scale, despite lacking significant human capacities to ensure cyber resilience. Fielding AI to help address this is key, and across both Asia and Europe, new AI regulations and national strategies are emerging in parallel to address risk management, accountability, and trust – while still supporting innovation.
International cooperation is essential. ESET supports initiatives such as the United Nations Global Digital Compact, which promotes global coordination for a safe, trusted digital future.
The role of cybersecurity in Artificial Intelligence
ESET is built on a commitment to human and technological progress, and this commitment has shaped who we are and has helped us secure the trust of millions of people around the world. Our job – indeed the task before the entire cybersecurity sector around the world – is to remove AI risks so that those promised benefits can flourish.
ESET is one of the first - and now the largest - European cybersecurity companies. From the moment our founders got together in Bratislava in 1987 to write the first version of the NOD antivirus program, our goal has been to protect people from cyber attacks. That goal has never changed, even as society, politics and commerce have evolved around us. A key component of achieving that goal has been a singular ingredient.
That one thing that holds true in cybersecurity, technology and politics is the importance of trust. That trust is built on, and in turn relies upon, good security.
Security and trust are indispensable in times of change
During change and uncertainty, trust in technologies, institutions and people is critical. From our perspective, that makes our task simple: good cyber security is a foundational pillar of the new AI era, and to ensure it, we must have digital trust.
That’s why what’s being discussed and signed here in India this week is of global importance.
Artificial intelligence is transforming the world at an incredible pace, creating new opportunities for economies and societies. At the same time, criminal groups are using AI to increase the speed, scale, and sophistication of their attacks.
At present, malicious actors use AI to craft convincing phishing emails, rapidly gather information about their victims, and lower the barrier to deploy complex cyberattacks.
This makes cybersecurity a critical pillar of the AI era.
AI can be a tool for good, and a shield for society
AI doesn’t just empower attackers; it strengthens defenders, enables early detection, helps the work of security teams, and protects digital systems in real time. ESET’s approach to AI use has been grounded in rigorous scientific testing, careful oversight, and focus on user safety and real-world benefit for decades.
Machine learning, neural networks, deep learning and other elements of AI have long been at the heart of sophisticated cyber security practice – and at the heart of everything ESET does. For example, we’ve used Neural Networks since 1997, when we put them to use in identifying and helping to stop macro viruses, and our later use of transformer models to detect malware.
Today, ESET runs sophisticated, multi-layered integrations of AI models, combined with traditional detection methods and human oversight. This ensures that detection decisions consider context and user impact, while still prioritizing safety, ethical responsibility and user benefit without compromise. As Europe's largest global cybersecurity company, ESET is committed to using AI responsibly and contributing its expertise to strengthen digital resilience worldwide.
Discover how the AI journey at ESET began below.
What this means for India
India, like many other successful economies and nations, is a target for cyber attacks. As the fastest-growing major global economy and the third-largest digitalized country, India is a natural target for cyberattacks on businesses as well as public infrastructure, and this is reflected in the numbers. From state-sponsored espionage to ransomware-as-a-service and deepfake-driven scams, today India is grappling with a wide spectrum of cyber threats that demand urgent and sustained action.
As a technology and business partner for the world, India is also perfectly placed to take a leading role in ensuring digital trust and strong cyber security are at the heart of technological development.
What happens next week
The India AI Impact Summit represents a single point in time to define how and where India will help shape the future of AI. What happens after that is just as important, and the long term policy, approach and work that follows this summit and the EU agreement is an opportunity to build a future where AI is a technology whose use to both society and commerce vastly outweighs its use for bad.
Again, ESET welcomes the trade deal and the partnership agreements just signed between India and the European Union. Deals such as this will hopefully reduce barriers to trade and allow companies from these two important economic powerhouses to do business and prosper.
