a16z surveys 100 CISOs: How AI is reshaping the security agenda for 2027

a16z conducted a survey of over 100 CISOs from companies with more than 1,000 employees. 87% expect security spending to grow in 2027, driven primarily by AI threats and the expanded attack surface caused by their own AI deployments. All seven top security initiatives for 2027 are AI-related. SOC automation received the most first-choice votes, while internal AI agent security, SOC automation, and offensive security saw the largest increases. However, the adoption rate of AI SOC tools in production environments remains at only 18%.