AI and digital sovereignty take center stage at GISEC 2026

Summary

The opening sessions of GISEC 2026 in Dubai centered on AI-driven cyber threats, deepfake risks, and digital sovereignty. Over 25,000 participants from more than 180 countries and over 350 speakers addressed the protection of critical infrastructure and AI systems.

Why it matters

The conference positions AI as both an accelerating threat vector and a mandatory defense layer. Digital sovereignty is highlighted as a geopolitical priority linked to the $28 trillion digital economy. As AI agents expand beyond models into memory, data pipelines, and operational systems, the traditional perimeter security paradigm is declared obsolete. Consequently, the policy and architectural choices discussed here are decisive for national and organizational resilience.

Highlights

• AI agents expand the attack surface beyond models to include agents, memory, and data, requiring resilience by design rather than after-the-fact patching.
• Speakers from ENOC and Cohesity noted that as digital twins and OT systems converge with IT, traditional network perimeter security becomes insufficient.
• Deepfake technology is framed as a crisis of identity and consent, with calls for individual control over voice and image, as well as content verification.

Critical take

The text reads like a promotional conference summary relying almost entirely on corporate quotes and branded session titles. It offers no independent assessment of whether the proposed 'cyber-first' or collective defense frameworks can realistically be implemented at scale. The $28 trillion figure mentioned in the headline is used without source or methodological context, weakening the case for serious sovereignty arguments.