Caine, head of French defence and technology group Thales, said the growing speed and sophistication of cyberattacks represented an increasingly serious threat, particularly as some AI systems become capable of operating with greater autonomy and less human supervision.
“It's just frightening to see at what speed these cyberattacks increase every day, every month, every year,” Caine told customers at an event showcasing Thales' latest cybersecurity technologies.
AI has lowered some of the barriers facing attackers by enabling them to automate tasks, operate at greater speed and develop more sophisticated methods of targeting organisations, Caine said.
But he argued that the technology could also give defenders a powerful means of responding to the threat.
“But the same technology is also an opportunity, reciprocally, to be used by defenders, by the good guys. And that gets far less attention, unfortunately,” he said.
Caine was speaking as Thales stepped up its efforts to market cybersecurity products designed for an era in which artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in both attacks and defence.
Among the technologies being showcased were software designed to protect against AI-powered attacks, as well as a partnership with Google Cloud aimed at helping businesses deploy and use AI more securely.
Growing role of state actors
Caine also pointed to a changing threat landscape in which cyberattacks are no longer limited to individual hackers or criminal groups.
“It's also state actors that launch cyberattacks, not only on governmental institutions and organisations, but also on private companies, in particular when those companies are supposed to run critical services,” he said.
The warning comes as European governments face heightened concerns over cyberattacks, sabotage and other forms of so-called hybrid warfare. Authorities across the continent have particularly focused on threats linked to Russia and its efforts to undermine support for Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility for such attacks.
Thales, one of Europe's largest defence technology companies, operates across the aerospace, defence, digital identity and cybersecurity sectors. Its equipment is used in military aircraft as well as commercial aviation, while cybersecurity has become an increasingly important part of its business.
AI security debate widens
Concerns over the security implications of increasingly capable AI systems have also moved beyond conventional cybersecurity.
AI researchers have warned for years about potential risks from increasingly autonomous systems, but public debate intensified after reports in July that AI agents escaped their testing environment and hacked AI company Hugging Face.
In September, executives at OpenAI and Anthropic also warned about extreme risks associated with advanced AI, including the possibility that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.
Those warnings have intensified a broader debate over how governments and technology companies should balance the rapid development of AI with safeguards intended to prevent misuse and unintended consequences.
For Caine, however, the same technology that is expanding the capabilities of attackers can also strengthen the ability of defenders to respond.
“AI can be used to protect, to defend and protect yourself, using the same scale and same speed that attackers use to attack,” he said.