Artificial Intelligence, the Protagonist in the New Cyberwar The relationship between cybercrime and geopolitics is becoming increasingly clear. According to experts like Valencia from Secure&IT, in September, Iran initially detected about 2,000 daily cyberattack attempts of low intensity. However, the number skyrocketed to over 15,000 daily attacks aimed at clients, which abruptly ceased after the first military strikes, highlighting the direct connection between cyberspace and armed conflicts. Artificial intelligence has multiplied the reach and sophistication of threats. Cybercriminals operate without legal restrictions and use advanced language models specifically trained for illicit activities. These tools generate misinformation, refine social engineering techniques, automate scams, and develop codes capable of evading defenses autonomously. Meanwhile, defensive AI systems help contextualize threats and distinguish between legitimate and malicious activities, although attackers always seem to be one step ahead, and now, with AI, even two. From Palo Alto Networks, however, the potential of artificial intelligence for defense is emphasized. By utilizing large volumes of global data, AI allows for the detection of anomalies, correlation of threats, and more agile incident response. The future of cybersecurity, they assert, will be a combination of artificial intelligence, automation, and the expertise of human professionals. The landscape is paradoxical: AI systems facing each other, both in attack and defense. To counter these risks, companies like Internxt have developed European, private, and secure AI solutions, where information is processed locally and not stored on external servers. Fran Villalba warns about the false sense of security when using chatbots like ChatGPT: although they seem impersonal, there are companies behind them that collect data. Many users underestimate the value of their information, but in conflict contexts, personal, banking, or infrastructure data can become strategic assets, the true "digital oil." Unlike conventional military attacks, cyberattacks are cheaper and harder to trace, allowing aggressors to operate in a gray area where they can sabotage and spy without triggering an open war. Source: rtve.es