AI-powered defenses improve phishing response times, but AI-generated attacks raise overall costs

AI-powered phishing defenses speed up incident response but AI-generated attacks increase overall costs. Phishing now consumes 37% of security team hours and costs $51,948 per analyst annually, a 13.6% rise since 2022. Attack volume and sophistication outpaced defender efficiency. Half of organizations view phishing as a high or extreme threat, with deepfake attacks causing immediate disruption. Most expect phishing to become more challenging.