80% of Optimistic CISOs Rate Leadership’s AI Risk Understanding as Fair or Good, Report Finds
The IANS and Artico Search report found a 32-point gap between optimistic and pessimistic CISOs on leadership's understanding of AI risk.
- By Danielle Naidu
- Sep 02, 2026
Leadership's understanding of AI risk is one of the clearest differences between CISOs with optimistic and pessimistic outlooks for managing the risk over the next two years, according to a press release from IANS and Artico Search announcing the organizations' "CISO Perspectives on AI Risk" report.
Eighty percent of CISOs who were optimistic about managing AI risk over the next 24 months described senior leadership's understanding of the issue as fair or good. Among pessimistic respondents, fewer than half (48%) gave leadership the same assessment.
Program maturity was more closely associated with how CISOs assessed their current AI risk. On a 10-point scale, respondents overseeing mature AI security programs gave present-day risk an average rating of 3.7. The average increased to 7.8 among those with low-maturity programs.
Organizational differences also emerged around governance and budget responsibility. Nearly three in four optimistic CISOs (74%) reported clearly defined AI governance ownership, compared with 40% of pessimistic respondents. More than four in five optimistic CISOs (81%) owned the AI security budget, compared with half of pessimistic respondents.
The report is based on an April-May 2026 survey of 113 CISOs whose organizations varied by industry, revenue band and company type.
About the Author
Danielle Naidu is assistant editor for Security Today, Campus Security Today, Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Protection Online.