Emerging technologies and cybersecurity: Can governance adapt to speed, scale, and uncertainty? Geneva Dialogue Masterclass #2
2026-05-04 14:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Online Zoom
Cyber stability faces growing pressure from geopolitical fragmentation, rapid technological change, and interconnected digital supply chains. Emerging technologies — AI, advanced automation, and quantum computing — are accelerating cyber capabilities, reshaping how vulnerabilities are discovered, defences are built, and operations conducted. Some compress decision timelines; others challenge foundational assumptions about encryption and systemic risk. As capabilities evolve, responsibilities across developers, deployers, infrastructure operators, and states become harder to delineate, and existing governance frameworks struggle to keep pace.
In 2026, the Geneva Dialogue stress-tests cybersecurity practices and agreed cyber norms under real-world conditions, bringing together policymakers, the private sector, technical communities, and civil society through a scenario-based engagement framework.
This masterclass is part of a series under the 2026 Geneva Dialogue work programme to stress-test cyber norms. It aims to establish a shared analytical baseline: how technological acceleration is reshaping capabilities and redistributing risk — and where existing governance approaches may fall short under conditions of systemic transformation.
It follows the first masterclass in the series, Shared Code, Shared Risk: How Are Security Responsibilities Allocated?, which examined security responsibilities in open-source software supply chains.
The session requires registration.
Its findings will directly inform the third chapter of the Geneva Manual on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace.

Cyber stability under pressure: A reality check for cyber norms in an era of AI-driven cyber risks
2026-05-08 10:00 - 12:30 | Online and Geneva
Time: 08:00-10:30 UTC / 10:00–12:30 CEST
On-site registration: RSVP to genevadialogue@diplomacy.edu, and also register for the Geneva Cyber Week, before 30 April
2026 Geneva Cyber Week
Cyber stability is under increasing strain — not only from more sophisticated attacks, but from the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into both the tools used to carry them out and those used to defend against them. The same technology that makes defenders faster also makes attackers faster. The same AI model that helps a security team identify weaknesses in their own systems can help an adversary find them first.
At the same time, several major AI providers have revised the terms governing how their models may be used, including in some cases terms that previously restricted military and national security applications. Governments in a number of jurisdictions have actively sought to expand their access to commercial AI capabilities for defence and intelligence purposes. There is evidence that criminal and APT groups — including those allegedly affiliated with states — are increasingly adopting commercial AI tools to automate cyber attacks at greater scale, while reducing the investment in time and human resources required. Commercial AI security products, including those being procured by critical infrastructure operators, are built on underlying models whose permitted uses and governance terms may not be fully visible to the organisations deploying them.
This raises fundamental questions: when the same AI tools serve both attack and defence, what does “responsible use” actually mean in practice? Who sets the boundaries, and what happens when those boundaries are moved? How do existing cyber norms hold up when the technology they are supposed to govern has changed faster than the norms themselves?This scenario-based session takes place during the Geneva Cyber Week and is open to both onsite and online participants. It brings together experts and decision-makers from across stakeholder groups — including public policymakers, critical infrastructure operators, technology providers, cybersecurity practitioners, AI governance specialists, compliance and risk professionals, and civil society and academic experts.
The session will be held under the Chatham House Rule.
Its findings will directly inform the third chapter of the Geneva Manual on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace. To join online, please RSVP at genevadialogue@diplomacy.edu.
