The Critical Infrastructure Blind Spot in the AI Era
While deploying advanced artificial intelligence models for cybersecurity vulnerability discovery promises early defensive advantages, architecting defense solely around enterprise IT and cloud infrastructures leaves a massive blind spot across critical physical assets. An exploit in corporate IT typically leads to data exfiltration or temporary downtime, whereas an unmitigated vulnerability in operational technology, if safety instrumented layers are bypassed, can trigger uncontrolled valve releases, mechanical equipment damage, and direct threats to physical safety. This analysis examines why patching cycles in continuous 24/7 mission-critical operations span years rather than weeks, and why AI-assisted defense must place operational technology at the core of the table.