Why AI-enabled security systems must be assessed as decision accelerators

Context

AI is increasingly embedded in security orchestration, incident prioritisation, and response automation. From SOAR platforms to financial crime escalation workflows, AI systems now shape the tempo and direction of response, often under conditions of uncertainty and time pressure.

While governance frameworks typically assess whether systems are authorised and compliant, they rarely examine how AI reshapes escalation dynamics once deployed.

Why it matters

AI-enabled systems compress decision timelines and amplify correlations.
This creates conditions where escalation occurs:

• faster than human deliberation cycles,
• across chained automated responses,
• without clear visibility into cumulative effects.

In crisis scenarios, escalation may emerge without deliberate intent, driven by feedback loops between detection, prioritisation, and response automation. When governance frameworks ignore these dynamics, organisations risk crossing legal, strategic, or policy thresholds unintentionally.

Toralya insight

AI systems must be governed as decision accelerators, not neutral tools.
This requires forensic analysis of:

• escalation logic embedded in workflows,
• human–machine handoff points,
• override mechanisms and fail-safes,
• cumulative effects of chained automation.

Governance must explicitly define where automation ends and authority begins, preserving institutional control over consequential escalation.

Decision value

For CISOs, AI governance leads, and public institutions, this approach prevents automation-driven governance failure.
It aligns AI-enabled operations with strategic risk tolerance, legal mandates, and oversight obligations, ensuring that speed does not outpace responsibility.

References

1. ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity)
   Threat Landscape for Cyber Operations and Automation.
   ENISA, 2024.
2. NATO
   NATO Strategy on Artificial Intelligence.
   NATO, 2023.
3. OECD
   AI, Risk, and Decision-Making in Security Contexts.
   OECD, 2024.
4. Parasuraman, R., & Riley, V.
   “Humans and Automation: Use, Misuse, Disuse, Abuse.”
   Human Factors, Vol. 39, No. 2, 1997.
5. Kello, L.
   The Virtual Weapon and International Order.
   Yale University Press, 2017.