AI Adoption Surges Yet Value Remains Elusive
Eighteen months after the AI-powered SOC moved from marketing concept to budget line item, security operations teams are investing heavily in artificial intelligence at an unprecedented pace. Adoption of AI copilots has jumped 145% year over year, while AI agents grew 118% and supervised machine learning increased by 96%. Despite this massive wave of deployment, the majority of security operations centers report disappointing results. According to the SOC-CMM 2026 Maturity Report published in May, which surveyed roughly 200 SOCs across various sectors and regions, only about 10% of respondents indicated that AI has delivered excellent value. Approximately 19% reported good value, leaving 71% experiencing only some benefit or none at all.
The Gap Between Purchase and Performance
The report highlights a fundamental mismatch between how organizations are buying AI and how they are integrating it into operations. The dominant adoption model, called the taker approach, involves deploying off-the-shelf AI tools within existing security stacks without customization. About 65% of surveyed SOCs fall into this category. Another 20% are shapers who customize their purchased tools, while only 15% are builders who train models against their own data. These findings suggest that SOC teams may be overinvesting in AI technology without the operational maturity needed to extract real value. The data signals that the next wave of AI in security operations must focus on tighter integration and customization to close the gap between adoption and effectiveness.
Source: The Hacker News
