Trust and judgement: the challenge facing the AI-driven SOC
As agentic AI reshapes the SOC, trust and oversight become critical
· TechRadarOpinion By Kirsty Paine published 20 March 2026
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The promise of agentic AI in the security operations center (SOC) is obvious.
Faster investigations, systems that can act on their own and the ability to keep pace with threats that no longer arrive neatly packaged.
The harder question is whether security leaders are ready to trust it.
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Kirsty Paine
Field CTO and Strategic Advisor at Splunk.
The idea of AI tools making decisions can sound abstract, but the shift it represents is not. Moving from automation to agentic AI changes how work gets done, how responsibility is shared and how much control leaders are willing to hand over.
The security industry has been here before. Only a few years ago, many SOC teams were still cautious about automation software. Concerns about visibility and accountability slowed adoption, even when the benefits were clear.
Large language models changed that dynamic by showing how adaptable AI could be, but they also introduced a new kind of uncertainty. Unlike scripted workflows, these systems interpret context and make judgment calls along the way.
Agentic AI takes that a step further, operating for extended periods and shaping investigations as they unfold. That shift creates real opportunity, but it also forces security leaders to rethink what trust looks like when decisions are no longer made entirely by people.
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