Securonix and Orient Technologies are pushing back against the idea that artificial intelligence will simply reduce the number of people required to run security operations centres, arguing instead that AI's immediate value lies in helping analysts process large volumes of information and make decisions faster. Speaking exclusively to CRN India, Dipesh Kaura, country director, India and SAARC, Securonix, and Ajay Sawant, chairman and managing director, Orient Technologies Limited, said AI is being used for high-volume and repetitive SOC tasks, while humans remain responsible for decisions that require business context or could have a significant impact on an organisation. Sawant said AI can analyse and correlate large volumes of security events, enrich alerts with additional context, search through large datasets, summarise incidents, prioritise alerts and assist with routine reporting, reducing the time analysts spend gathering and processing information so they can focus on investigation and decision-making. He said the human role becomes particularly important when a response involves a critical production system, an important user account or a major security incident. Kaura said the first distinction that needs to be made is between AI and automation, stating AI is not automation but a supplement to the person taking decisions such as yes, no, activate, deactivate or quarantine. He said automation in the SIEM and SOC environment primarily comes through security orchestration, automation and response, or SOAR, while AI improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the analyst working with alerts. Kaura said an analyst may have to work through thousands or