In the Age of Generative AI

For years, we have contemplated the potential of artificial intelligence – however, we now live in an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is moving faster than ever and, as a result, is incorporated into every part of daily life, with parts of government policy discussing the use of artificial intelligence, and it’s impact on the economy, education, and our lifestyles.

The Security Middle East Conference, since its inception in 2023, has discussed the implementation of artificial intelligence into daily life. In 2023, our conference held the panel, “Securing Vision 2030: Smart City Development + Navigating the Threat Landscape.” The official discussion of the panel was as follows:

As the Kingdom paves the way to the future with world-renowned giga projects such as NEOM, Diriyah, Qiddiya and more; hear from industry-leading experts across multiple sectors about how to navigate the ever-changing threat landscape when developing new smart and safe cities, and how advancements in technology can keep us one step ahead.

Panellists involved: Craig Ross: Senior Safety & Security Manager – Diriyah Gate Development Authority,  Dr. Mohammad Alketbi: Founder: Forceis Security & Advisory Board Member: Intersec Dubai, Dr. Mohammed Aladalah: Tech Security Expert, Wissam Acra: Middle East Director – Genetec, Eng. Mohammad Almajed: Director of Product Development – Tahakom, and was moderated by Prof. Borhen Marzougui.

Discussion eventually evolved into what the defining characteristics of a smart city – and the conclusion drawn was that a smart city was the implementation of data management, via artificial intelligence or otherwise, into physical security systems, to streamline, optimize and improve life within a city. A vision that was comparable to the goals of The Line, the massive giga-project currently under construction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A concept was drawn about the actuality of artificial intelligence within a city, how it would be able to track a threat actor around every dark alley, through every opened door, and create a unique signature so that the threat actor was always contained and city streets were kept safe. However, this technology would expand – as we have seen through the use of cookies – AI can track shoppers, consumers, workers and the like, helping them organize their day in either subtle or obvious ways, and recommending the best ways for them to carry out their activities, spend their money, and manage their time.

The original vision laid out by cybersecurity professionals, of a city optimized, has now spread, not only is a city optimized both through its data management and its physical solutions – but so too, are its people.

AI in Our 2024 Panel

Our AI Panel returned, more focused, in our 2024 conference, with the panel titled: “Generative AI and managing cyber resilience against ever-evolving threats.”

Described as:

As technologies such as generative AI continue to develop as quickly as they can be monitored, we explore the importance of maintaining cyber resilience against threats that are powered by generative AI, and the sort of attacks that come with such technology, such as data poisoning.

The panel featured:

Ian Keller: Global Information Technology Expert, Dr. Nasser Alamri: Cybersecurity Executive Director – Institute of Public Administration and Khalid Almedbel: CISO – Confidential Government, and was moderated by Daniel Norman of the Information Security Forum.

The Panel again looked at the world within the context of artificial intelligence, looking at how war and conflict have dramatically changed with evolving technology, and how artificial intelligence is limited only by our human uses for it.

Ian Keller, a Global Information Technology Expert discusses this in detail, looking at the wider security landscape as context for how AI is naturally becoming a part of security through its incorporation into cameras, screens, analysis, access control and more. The only limitation of artificial intelligence is quite literally, our imagination. Especially in the era of data centres being developed all over the world, giving AI the computing power required to be utilized for everyday tasks.

We now see schools having AI checkers, locating patterns, and, ironically, using AI to determine if papers are written by AI. At the moment, AI is a threat only to particular job roles and is much more of a boon to society rather than a hindrance. However, the security landscape is changing rapidly.

In 2025, the Security Middle East Conference will return, and will again look at the evolution of AI, and generative intelligence, looking at the wider context of the security marketplace. With new iterations of chatGPT being made public on an almost quarterly basis, how workers approach tasks, physical and otherwise is changing on a fundamental basis.

Register for the Security Middle East Conference 2025: https://securitymiddleeastconference.com/.