Artificial intelligence-enabled devices and cybersecurity solutions were the leading operational technology and emerging technology investment priorities by organizations across 20 industrial sectors, including utilities, manufacturing, energy, and transportation, worldwide, according to SecurityWeek.

While 89% of industrial organization employees noted cybersecurity compliance being extremely or very important, 39% named cybersecurity as the leading challenge in industrial infrastructure operations and maintenance, mostly due to legacy system flaws, malware attacks, and insider threats, a report from Cisco showed. Organizational cybersecurity was also noted by 41% of respondents to be independently managed by IT and OT teams but AI was regarded to help bolster coordination between both teams. AI has been leveraged by OT leaders to accelerate the delivery of higher-quality products, noted Cisco. “Organizations who fail to refresh their industrial networking infrastructure for AI in order to optimize efficiency, harness data for AI models, support over-stretched employees, and defend against damaging cyberattacks, will struggle to compete,” said Cisco.