Security officials are increasingly focused on how artificial intelligence is changing cybercrime. INTERPOL's global chief information security officer, Bjorn R. Watne, told CNBC that AI is enhancing existing criminal techniques such as scams and fraud, rather than revolutionizing them. He noted that scam operators can now target multiple victims at once, and that improved translation and digital identities make fraudulent interactions harder to distinguish from genuine ones.
Microsoft, meanwhile, paints a more competitive picture. The company says threat actors are currently benefiting from AI faster than defenders, allowing them to speed up vulnerability discovery, malware development, and post-compromise activity while security teams struggle to keep pace. This framing suggests an active race, with attackers holding an early lead.
The two sources agree on the core trend: AI is making cyber threats faster and larger in scale. Where they differ is in emphasis. INTERPOL sees AI as a force multiplier for known criminal methods, while Microsoft highlights the widening gap between offensive and defensive uses of the technology. Both imply that organizations need to prepare for a threat environment where AI is a standard tool for attackers, not an experimental one.