At RSAC 2026, AI optimism and anxiety — and an MIA U.S. government

<p>According to its most ardent proponents, AI is well on its way to creating a new, nirvana-like SOC, in which exposure and threat detection windows are measured in seconds, and human operators are liberated from endless alert triage and chronic overwork.</p>
<p>Its fiercest detractors, on the other hand, warn that AI could create an apocalyptic cyber-hellscape in which organizations’ ungoverned use of agentic AI exposes their sensitive data, and attackers find and exploit vulnerabilities at machine speed.</p>
<p>The truth likely lies somewhere in the murky middle. AI, like any powerful tool, can be a force for good or evil — and without proper safety oversight, it can create more problems than it solves.</p>
<p>Programming at RSAC 2026 reflected this push and pull between AI optimism and concern. In this Reporters’ Notebook video, Rob Wright, senior news director at Dark Reading; Eric Geller, senior reporter at Cybersecurity Dive; and Alissa Irei, senior site editor at TechTarget SearchSecurity, discussed what they saw and heard at the conference — and what the federal government’s notable absence might mean for an industry wrestling with questions about AI governance and compliance.</p>
<p>Watch the full discussion now, and check out the following related articles, all part of the Informa TechTarget editorial team’s extensive <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/conference/RSA-Conference-news-and-analysis”>coverage of the RSAC 2026 Conference</a>.</p>
<p>For more on AI in cybersecurity:</p>
<ul class=”default-list”>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/ai-coding-tools-endpoint-security” rel=”noopener”>How AI coding tools crushed the endpoint security fortress</a></li>
<li><a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/feature/How-AI-caught-a-malicious-North-Korean-insider-at-Exabeam”>How AI caught a malicious North Korean insider at Exabeam</a></li>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/feature/Agentic-AIs-role-in-amplifying-and-creating-insider-risks” rel=”noopener”>Agentic AI’s role in amplifying and creating insider risks</a></li>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/cisos-debate-human-role-ai-powered-security” rel=”noopener”>CISOs debate human role in AI-powered security</a></li>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ai-cyberattacks-changes-defense-offense-strategies/815716/” rel=”noopener”>’Do not shift budgets to AI’: How businesses should and shouldn’t respond to evolving threats</a></li>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ai-isacs-threat-intelligence-information-sharing-trust/815499/” rel=”noopener”>ISACs confront AI’s promise and peril for threat intelligence-sharing</a></li>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-operations/ai-soc-go-wrong” rel=”noopener”>AI in the SOC: What could go wrong?</a></li>
</ul>
<p>For more on the U.S. federal government’s absence from the conference and the CVE program’s uncertain future:</p>
<ul class=”default-list”>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/rsac-conference-cybersecurity-partnerships-us-government-trump/816157/” rel=”noopener”>’Missed opportunity’: US government’s absence from RSAC Conference leaves stark void</a></li>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/rsac-eu-leads-us-officials-sidelined” rel=”noopener”>At RSAC, the EU leads while US officials are sidelined</a></li>
<li><a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cve-program-ai-vulnerability-reports-funding/815594/” rel=”noopener”>The CVE Program, a bedrock of global cyber defense, is teetering on the brink</a></li>
</ul>
<transcript>
<p><i>Transcript: At RSAC 2026, AI optimism and anxiety — and an MIA federal government </i></p>
<p><b>Editor’s note:</b><i>&nbsp;The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity by Informa TechTarget’s internal AI assistant.</i></p>
<p><b>Dark Reading’s Rob Wright:</b>&nbsp;Hi, I’m Rob Wright with Dark Reading.</p>
<p><b>TechTarget SearchSecurity’s Alissa Irei:</b>&nbsp;I’m Alissa Irei with SearchSecurity.</p>
<p><b>Cybersecurity Dive’s Eric Geller:</b>&nbsp;And I’m Eric Geller with Cybersecurity Dive.</p>
<p><b>Wright:</b>&nbsp;And we are here to talk about RSAC Confe

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