In a digital landscape increasingly defined by cyber-attacks, relentless threats and ever-evolving security entry points, the role of an engineering leader has become more and more important. It has shifted from being just a traditional system builder to someone who can anticipate threats and guide teams through the complexities of modern enterprise risk. At the heart of this ever-growing transformation is generative AI which is a breakthrough technology that is fundamentally redefining how organizations think about security.
To explore how this paradigm shift is playing out in real-world scenarios, Soumya Banerjee, a seasoned engineering leader at Google, Senior IEEE member, and former judge for IEEE’s senior membership panel speaks about this enduring necessity and long-term trend. Soumya Banerjee shared, “Security isn’t just about putting up walls anymore. With cloud systems becoming more complex, old ways of protecting data simply aren’t enough. Generative AI is not just a buzzword, but acts as a real long-term partner in keeping businesses safe. Businesses have to treat it as an extremely effective and important tool to catch threats early, fix them quickly without wasting much time and using all resources efficiently. It will always be about building smarter, more resilient systems from the ground up for long term success rates.
From Code To Cloud
Businesses need end-to-end protection from the moment code is written to the moment it’s deployed and scaled in the cloud. “Security must be built into every stage, from the beginning to the end slate- from developer workflows to deployment pipelines and cloud environments. Generative AI enables security to be proactive.” says Soumya Banerjee.
Anticipating Unknown Threats
Threat modelling used to be a slow and manual process. But with generative AI, that’s changing. By learning from past attacks, system designs, and access logs, AI can now spot possible threats, even ones no one has seen before. “Engineering leaders can now use AI not just to respond to attacks, but to predict them before they happen. This shifts security planning from reacting after the fact to building resilience ahead of time.” says Banerjee.
Leadership Beyond Tools
While the technological advantages of generative AI are substantial, Soumya emphasizes that resilience starts with leadership and mentorship. “The modern engineering leader
must foster a culture where security is a shared responsibility—not a function siloed off to a specialized team,” he says
This requires close collaboration between all the teams within the company structure. Everyone involved in the technical needs to understand both the strengths and boundaries of AI. That’s why continuous learning, responsible AI practices and skill-building within teams are essential for creating trusted environments where innovation and security can thrive together.
Generative AI As A Security Co-Pilot
With generative AI still maturing, the years ahead will play a defining role in how enterprises integrate it with care and accountability.
Early adopters are already seeing productivity gains, reduced costs and maximum utilization of resources. Soumya Banerjee concludes, “AI is not here to replace engineers. It’s here to amplify them. The organizations that recognize this and build systems where humans and AI collaborate seamlessly, from code to cloud, will define the next era of secure innovation.”
