AI Surge Raises Corporate and National Security Risks

U.S. policymakers increasingly view China’s surge in AI investment as both an economic threat and a national-security concern, from advanced espionage to broader geopolitical influence. The Pentagon warns AI will make leaks, malicious insider activity and dangerous misjudgments more likely unless access controls and escalation management are tightened. Many corporate leaders are accelerating AI adoption without adequate governance, accountability, training or vendor liability frameworks, creating outsized financial, operational and reputational risks, especially in regulated sectors such as healthcare. Security specialists caution that agentic AI projects are failing at higher rates than predicted and, without strict strategic and technical controls, pose major cybersecurity and runtime risks. Compounding these problems, engineers’ unsanctioned “shadow” use of agentic AI is already creating new channels for sensitive data leakage and operational exposure when sanctioned tools don’t meet developer needs. Industry experts say stronger proactive governance, technical controls, accountability and vendor liability standards are needed to mitigate both corporate and national security risks from rapid, unmanaged AI adoption.