AI in Cybersecurity: 2025 is the year of “Put Up or Shut Up”

Remember when flying cars, electric vehicles, and the Will Smith starring I, Robot film with walking, talking robots taking over the world felt like distant sci-fi? Fast forward to today: Taylor Swift’s Eras World Tour is wrapping up, and the era of artificial intelligence (AI) agents is upon us. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is developing Optimus, also known as the Tesla Bot—a humanoid robot designed to teach, babysit, clean, and take over manual repetitive tasks (powered by the same AI and autopilot technologies Tesla vehicles use). And right when we thought robots were far-reaching, here I am thinking of the opening scene to every AI robot movie before something goes wrong. 

While the AI era has been brewing for years now, it’s beginning to seem like we’re a lot closer to a world of flying cars and AI robots running our errands. However, it’s all butterflies and rainbows until your AI-powered robot vacuuming your living room explodes into pieces—or worse, the AI-powered cybersecurity investment your organization made in 2024 fails to deliver real results or return on investment (ROI). 

The “Put Up or Shut Up” Era for AI

For too long, AI has ridden a wave of lofty promises, fueled by flashy marketing and eye-popping funding rounds. But the honeymoon phase is over. Organizations are no longer dazzled by potential—they’re demanding results. 

So like it or not, AI is heading into a pivotal moment in 2025, a “put up or shut up” year where reality will crash headfirst into overhyped promises. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. This is the year AI must deliver tangible ROI, prove its value in real-world applications, and justify its place as a transformative force in cybersecurity—or risk being dismissed as just another overhyped tech trend.

AI’s Reckoning: Lessons from the Dot-Com Era

The parallels between the current AI boom and the dot-com bubble are striking. In both eras, grand visions fueled massive investments. Yet, many AI solutions today remain more sizzle than steak—lacking real-world application and measurable results. Disillusionment is brewing, and the market will soon demand a clear distinction between innovation and overpromise.

However, 2025 will see this reckoning. Only companies that can substantiate their claims with practical use cases, measurable efficiencies, and proven ROI will survive. The rest? They’ll fade into obscurity, serving as cautionary tales about the perils of hype without delivery.

Dear AI, It’s Time to Cut the Fluff and Deliver Real Value… Sincerely, Everyone 

For cybersecurity, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Organizations are grappling with unprecedented threats, rising costs, and operational burnout. However, AI has the potential to be a game-changer—but only if it can directly address these challenges.

The AI companies that will thrive in 2025 are those that:

• Prove Operational Impact: AI must streamline workflows, reduce incident response times, and free up talent for more strategic tasks.
• Demonstrate ROI: Investments in AI should directly translate to measurable outcomes like reduced breach costs or improved detection rates.
• Focus on Practicality Over Gimmicks: Real-world use cases, not abstract promises, will define success.

Separating AI Trendsetters from AI Trend Chasers

The AI hype cycle is about to run its course. In 2025, we’ll see a clear divide between companies driving genuine innovation and those chasing buzzwords. The winners will be the ones who prioritize substance, delivering technologies that solve real problems and create sustainable value.

Is AI more sizzle than steak?! 

According to our latest Swimlane report, Is AI Living Up to Its Cybersecurity Promises, 76% of cybersecurity professionals say the AI landscape is overwhelmed by constant overpromotion and AI hype. While 55% feel fatigued by constant media buzz, with many frustrated by the misuse of the “AI-powered” label on tools with little to none AI functionality. 

Even though AI may be peanut-buttered across every industry, a select few companies are serving the steak with real-world use cases, proven results, and customers benefiting from AI in meaningful ways. These are the companies that are truly delivering on AI’s promise.

Despite the noisy hype, AI’s role in cybersecurity is crucial. It enhances threat detection, automates tasks to reduce SOC analyst burnout, and scales security operations to meet evolving threats. As threat actors leverage AI, organizations must “fight AI with AI,” using AI and machine learning to boost SecOps team efficiency, prevent attacks, and tackle more strategic tasks.

Tip: To help cut through the noise, organizations should do thorough research and prepare the right questions to ask AI security vendors. This approach will help identify organizations offering real AI use cases, quantify ROI, and make informed decisions.

Real AI Results with Hero AI

At Swimlane, we’ve always believed in AI’s potential to be combined with automation to revolutionize SecOps. But we also know that potential is never good enough. Swimlane Turbine, the AI automation platform, combines generative AI, low-code capabilities, and enterprise-scale automation to tackle the most challenging problems across SecOps, vulnerability management, compliance and beyond.. 

With Swimlane Hero AI, a collection of AI innovations available in Turbine, organizations can utilize key features like a private large language model (LLM), AI case summarization, recommended actions, augmented reporting, crafted AI prompts, and schema interface to improve their SecOps effectiveness by 20%.  

In a recent interview Tracy Webb, Director of Information and Cybersecurity Operations at GDS highlighted the impact of using Turbine’s Hero AI, “The excitement for my engineers is that AI makes them more powerful analysts and engineers. And for me, all I see is productivity going up and us becoming more deadly in terms of what we can provide to our clients and protecting GDS.”  Webb’s SOC team, consisting of just seven engineers, has completed over 5,000 cases—a milestone they never reached with their previous SOAR platform. Webb estimates that without Swimlane’s AI automation, they would need an additional 20 analysts to keep up with the workload. 

So there you have it… The time for talking is over. In 2025, the AI industry must deliver or risk being written off as another overhyped trend. For technology providers, this means stepping up with transparent results and real impact. For organizations, it’s about demanding accountability and focusing on solutions that drive meaningful change.

Let’s make 2025 the year AI earns its seat at the table.