Impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Cybersecurity Workforce

The rapid technical developments in AI, and generative AI (GenAI) in particular, have brought about substantial opportunities for growth and challenges for workforce in many industries. This research reviews the general positive and negative impacts of AI on workforce and employment. The focus of this study is on the impacts of AI on the professional competencies or KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities) for the cybersecurity workforce in the United States. The research direction is based on an adapted Cybersecurity Competency Model including traditional tiers of cybersecurity KSAs with new qualifications for AI and strategic leadership. The research goal is to discover the effects of AI on specific qualifications or KSAs for major job titles in the U.S. cybersecurity workforce based on cybersecurity job posting data collected from both public and private sectors. The quantitative and longitudinal method for this study includes collecting and analyzing cybersecurity position postings in public and private sectors in the United States in the past five years (2022-2026). The findings of this study indicate a consistent emphasis on traditional professional KSAs along with an emerging but fast growing trend of AI-related skills for both public and private cybersecurity positions.