The *Pace* of AI Change Is the Real Disruption (More than AI Itself)

AI is evolving (sometimes daily) and nowhere is this more dangerous than in cybersecurity.

Rocky the Raptor here, RPost’s cybersecurity product evangelist, with some early 2026 insights.

Everyone’s talking about **AI** like it’s the disruption. From where I perch, that’s not quite right. The *real* disruption is the **pace of AI change**.

AI isn’t arriving in neat, predictable waves. It’s evolving weekly -- sometimes daily -- and nowhere is that more obvious (or more dangerous) than in **cybersecurity**. 

Spy vs. Spy, 2026 Edition

(If you were not born in the days of paper magazines, do a quick search on Spy vs. Spy.)

If you grew up on paper copies of Mad Magazine, think Spy vs. Spy -- only now it’s Black-hat AI vs. White-hat AI.

Cybercriminals have been early adopters of AI. They’re using it to:

• Generate flawless impersonations
• Craft hyper-contextual phishing and BEC lures
• Adapt attacks in real time based on reconnaissance

That trend accelerates in 2026, where attacks won’t just be AI-assisted -- they’ll be AI-driven, AI-optimized, and AI-adaptive. And, ultimately AI automated (meaning the scale of sophisticated attacks will be continuously persistent and in high volume).

Without AI on the defender side, there’s simply no chance of keeping up.

Why Humans Alone Can’t Win This Fight

Security awareness training still matters—but let’s be honest: AI-generated lures now look better than legitimate emails.

When attackers use AI to analyze conversations, timing, tone, and business context, humans become the weakest link—not because they’re careless, but because the deception is too good.

That’s why defenders need AI for the good guys -- AI that can:

• Detect reconnaissance before the attack
• Spot impersonation patterns humans can’t see
• Act preemptively, not reactively 

That’s exactly where RPost RAPTOR™ AI comes in -- hunting the hunters, at machine speed.

The 2026 Shift: From Vendors to Collaborative Partners

Here’s my RAPTOR prediction for 2026:

Companies will need to find those software and security companies that can in their nature be "collaborative partners" that continuously iterate with customers versus acting like software vendors that sell user seats and check in once per year to discuss renewals and upsells.

Think of RPost as the former, a collaborative partner, that can help customers iterate fast considering the fast pace of change of AI.

Why is this going to be an important way to re-think? Because in an AI-vs-AI world static software can’t defend against adaptive threats. 

The winners will be security companies that:

• Continuously iterate with customers
• Learn from real-world attacks in real time
• Adapt models, detections, and responses rapidly
• Act like partners -- not vendors who “check in” once a year

Think collaboration over consumption.

Why Pace Beats Power

AI itself isn’t the problem. The speed at which it evolves is. Cybercriminals iterate fast. Defenders must iterate faster.

That means:

• AI-powered defense
• Preemptive detection
• Tight collaboration between security teams and vendors
• Continuous learning loops

At RPost, that’s how we think about RAPTOR AI preemptive cybersecurity -- not as a product you install and forget, but as a living system that evolves alongside customers as the threat landscape changes.

Final Thought from the Raptor

2026 won’t be about whether you “use AI.” It’ll be about whose AI adapts faster. Spy vs. Spy --but this time, the stakes are less about geopolitical dominance and more about business continuity for businesses everywhere.

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