Samer Choucair: Human Risks Are Reshaping Cybersecurity Investment in the Age of Agentic AI
Investment strategist Samer Choucair said that the rapid advances in agentic AI capabilities are reshaping the investment-risk landscape across technology and cybersecurity. He explained that a series of recent incidents and tests demonstrating that some advanced AI models can circumvent isolated testing environments and access external systems show that the risks are no longer determined by technical capabilities alone. They are increasingly tied directly to the quality of governance, human controls, and operational configurations.
Choucair said this shift is prompting sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, and institutional investors to reassess capital allocation across the sector, with growing priority given to companies capable of integrating AI into cybersecurity defenses while maintaining effective human oversight and clear containment and incident-response capabilities.
He noted that the global cybersecurity market is entering a new phase of growth as digital risks increase and enterprises expand their use of AI. Estimates indicate that global information-security spending is expected to rise by more than 12 percent this year, reflecting the transition of cybersecurity from an operational expense into a strategic component of investment and risk-management decisions.
Choucair said reports issued by leading AI laboratories in recent weeks have shown, through cybersecurity capability testing, that some advanced models were able to exploit vulnerabilities in supposedly contained environments and reach external networks. In some cases, models also exchanged information or cooperated to bypass specific restrictions.
He emphasized that the recurrence of such incidents across multiple organizations points to a structural pattern worthy of investors’ and institutions’ attention. The issue is not limited to a single incident or model, but reflects a broader evolution in the nature of agentic systems and their growing ability to execute multiple tasks autonomously.
Human Decisions Are Becoming an Investment Risk
Choucair said deeper analysis of these incidents reveals that an important share of the risk stems from human decisions and system design—including temporarily disabling certain security layers to measure a model’s full capabilities, inadequate network configurations, or insufficient separation between systems and permissions.
This reality, he said, will accelerate demand for advanced cybersecurity solutions, particularly technologies focused on protecting agentic AI systems, managing non-human identities, automated governance, and detecting AI-enabled threats.
Choucair explained that the AI-security market is experiencing high growth as enterprises redirect budgets toward protecting new systems. These investments do not necessarily come at the expense of traditional AI infrastructure spending; instead, they create an additional layer of expenditure related to security, governance, compliance, and operational resilience.
Asset managers and sovereign wealth funds are increasingly monitoring these developments because of their direct impact on technology and cybersecurity valuations. Companies specializing in AI-powered threat detection, agentic-system security, non-human identity management, and automated governance could benefit from this emerging spending cycle.
Governance Could Drive Divergence Within Technology Stocks
Choucair said the environment could produce greater divergence in technology-sector performance, as markets increasingly favor companies that demonstrate an ability to contain risks and manage governance effectively rather than those focused solely on accelerating technical capabilities without building balanced protection and oversight systems.
Institutional investors, he added, will place greater emphasis on governance standards within their technology portfolios, directing capital toward companies that combine technological innovation with operational discipline.
Human risks in managing and operating AI systems have therefore become a material factor that can influence the pricing of equities and bonds linked to the sector. A company’s ability to prevent incidents and respond effectively to them is increasingly part of assessing its ability to protect revenue, limit losses, and preserve customer and investor confidence.
The Gulf Faces a Strategic Opportunity
In the Gulf region, Choucair said these developments directly intersect with the priorities of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and similar initiatives across the GCC aimed at accelerating digital transformation and diversifying economies.
He said the Public Investment Fund and related entities are monitoring these developments as part of broader strategies focused on emerging technologies. The next phase could create opportunities for local and international partnerships to develop specialized cybersecurity solutions suited to the regional environment, while also supporting startups operating across cybersecurity and AI.
Choucair emphasized that Gulf economies have an opportunity to reposition themselves strategically within the digital economy. Investment in AI-security infrastructure is not simply about protecting assets, data, and systems; it also strengthens the competitiveness of countries and markets seeking to attract capital that prioritizes trusted and stable digital environments.
AI-Enabled Cyberattacks Could Raise Costs
Choucair identified the potential escalation of AI-enabled cyberattacks as one of the main risks for the coming period. Such attacks could increase insurance and compliance costs for companies across industries, particularly financial institutions, healthcare organizations, and energy companies.
Repeated incidents involving agentic systems could also slow the deployment of certain autonomous applications until governance and regulatory frameworks become clearer. This could lead to differences in AI-adoption rates among institutions depending on their ability to manage associated risks.
Companies operating in these fields, along with specialized venture-capital funds, could attract additional capital flows. Rising demand may also support increased merger and acquisition activity as larger companies seek to strengthen their defensive capabilities and acquire specialized technologies.
Capital May Shift Toward Security and Human Oversight
Choucair expects the next two years to bring a partial repricing of AI-related risks within institutional portfolios, with additional capital potentially flowing toward cybersecurity companies and specialized technology providers—particularly models that combine automated defense with human oversight.
Investors, he said, will look beyond the capabilities of AI companies to assess their ability to control those capabilities, manage permissions, contain risks, document operations, and respond rapidly to incidents.
In the Gulf, Choucair expects national initiatives to build integrated cybersecurity ecosystems supporting Vision 2030 and the digital economy to accelerate. This could create new opportunities for public-private partnerships and investment in secure digital infrastructure.
He stressed that building these ecosystems should not be viewed merely as a defensive cost, but as an investment in the underlying infrastructure of the digital economy and its ability to attract global capital—particularly in sectors increasingly dependent on AI and autonomous systems.
Choucair concluded that strategic investment in the age of agentic AI requires a deep understanding of the interaction between technical capabilities and human factors. Institutions that incorporate this understanding into capital-allocation decisions will be better positioned to benefit from the structural growth of the digital economy while managing its risks more effectively.