The ElephAInt in the (Board)Room
Growing up in India, I remember hearing my elementary school teacher tell us the story of six blind men who were asked to describe an elephant. Each one touched a different part: the tusk, the trunk, the leg, the ear, the belly, and the tail. Each described what they perceived the elephant to do, none of which even closely resembled an elephant. The tusk, one said, was like a spear, the trunk a snake, the ears were fans, the belly was a wall, the leg was a tree trunk, and the tail a rope. The moral – each are partly right, but all were wrong! It is essential to get the big picture!
Sounds familiar? Replace “elephant” with “AI,” and you’ve got every boardroom discussion about AI in the past few years. The CEO grabs AI by the tusk and says that we need to leverage AI for targeting new customers, the CFO grabs AI by the ears and declares, “It’s a cost-cutting machine as we can fan out operational inefficiencies” Meanwhile, the CMO clutches the trunk and states, “No, no, it’s a customer engagement tool!” The CDO tapping on the belly expresses that data and automation are central functions of AI systems. Somewhere in the corner, the CTO is convinced that, like the legs, AI is all about the sturdy and supporting infrastructure operations, while the data scientist clings to the tail, muttering about machine learning algorithms that connect data to models.
Each are partly right, but all are not seeing the whole elephAInt (intentionally misspelled).
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed is King (or should I say the Hacker)
Here’s the kicker: while the blind men argue over what AI is, there’s a one-eyed king lurking in the shadows. It is the Hacker who can see just enough to spot the gaps you are missing. And believe me; they don’t care if you think AI is a productivity tool or a new way to improve customer churn models— all they care about is where your data is unguarded, where your models can be inverted, evaded, or hijacked, and how to fine-tune algorithms to his favor.
In the land of the blind, the Hacker is the one-eyed King, ruling over our unprotected business advantage while we are still debating what AI is.
My main thesis is what cannot be defined, cannot be defended.
When the Blind Lead the Blind, They Fall into a Ditch (of Cyberattacks)
When the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). Well, in the world of AI, that ditch is a cyberattack waiting to happen. The more business leaders remain blind to the realities of AI’s security challenges, the closer we all are to stumbling headfirst into a mess of prompt injections, data poisoning, membership inference, model evasion, and supply chain model hijacking attacks! If no one’s steering the AI ship with a clear view of the threats under the surface, it’s not a matter of if but when one will experience a titanic fall (into that ditch).
Let’s Stop Debating and Start Defending It
So, what’s the solution here? Well, for starters, we all need to stop acting like blind men groping different parts of an elephant. Let’s quit pretending that AI is “just” one thing. AI is not a tusk, a trunk, or a tail—it’s the whole darn elephant, and it’s big, complex, and sitting right in the middle of your business strategy.
More importantly, while you are busy figuring out how AI fits into your operations, don’t forget that cybercriminals are very much awake, fully sighted, and ready to exploit your blind spots. AI might bring efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage—but without the proper security measures, it could also get you a front-row seat to a cybersecurity disaster.
Conclusion: Let’s dethrone the King
The moral of the story? It’s time to open our eyes in this world of AI. AI is not just some magical tool you can toss into the business without considering the risks. It’s powerful, yes, but also vulnerable. And if we don’t get everyone—from the boardroom to the builder (development teams) — on the same page, we’re just setting ourselves up for failure.
Let’s agree on what this elephant (AI) is, how we can use it, and most importantly, how we can defend it. Because while the one-eyed Hacker might be King today, with a bit of cyber awareness and a shared vision, we can dethrone the Hacker —and avoid falling into any ditches along the way.
So, what’s your perspective? Have you been grabbing AI by the tusk, the trunk, or something else? More importantly—are you defending it? Let’s talk (comment below) about your AI perspectives, possible blind spots and how we can sharpen your security vision.
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