As machine learning models and automation take on more tasks, the human analyst role is being redefined – from performing routine alert triage to making high-stakes strategic decisions.

This panel will explore whether the human analyst in the AI SOC is destined to be redundant or reimagined and how teams can best harness both machine precision and human intuition.

Industry experts will discuss the critical skills analysts need in the SOC of the future, the fine balance between automated detection and human investigation, and the ongoing debate between best-of-suite and best-of-breed solutions in an AI-enhanced security stack.

Discussion Pointers:

• • Skills for future security operations: Transitioning from reactive to proactive threat hunting; cross-disciplinary expertise in threat intelligence, cloud security and AI literacy; analytical reasoning, ethical judgment and contextual decision-making;

  • Automation decision criteria: Determining thresholds based on accuracy, confidence scores and impact; building trust in AI outputs while managing automation bias; ensuring explainability and auditability of AI-driven tasks;

  • Platform integration strategies: Weighing integrated platform efficiency against specialized tool depth; managing vendor lock-in risks versus interoperability advantages; selecting the right tooling mix;

  • Human-AI collaboration: Balancing automated detection with human investigation; communication across security, IT and business teams; case studies of successful AI-human partnerships.