AI-Human Collaboration in Modern SOCs

Summary

This SANS First Look paper examines how AI and human analysts work together in modern Security Operations Centers. Drawing on real-world deployments and practitioner insights, it explores the evolving role of human expertise in an increasingly automated security landscape. The paper provides a practical framework for SOC leaders balancing technology investment with team development.

Key Takeaways

• → Human analysts remain critical for contextual decision-making and creative threat hunting that AI cannot replicate
• → Most effective SOCs use AI to augment analyst capabilities rather than replace them, focusing automation on repetitive triage tasks
• → Successful AI-human collaboration requires clear role definitions, continuous training, and feedback loops between analysts and systems
• → Organizations that invest in both AI tooling and analyst skill development see 40% faster incident response times