Auburn University launches AI-focused cybersecurity center to counter emerging threats

Alabama’s Auburn University is expanding its cybersecurity capabilities with a new research center that places artificial intelligence at the forefront of digital defense efforts. The university’s strategic pivot comes as AI-powered cyber threats increasingly target organizations, creating an urgent need for cross-disciplinary approaches that both leverage AI for security and ensure AI systems themselves remain secure against exploitation.

The big picture: Auburn University has established the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Engineering (AU-CAICE), rebranding and expanding its existing cybersecurity research program to address evolving technological threats.

• The center brings together 27 faculty members from various disciplines to develop AI-driven cybersecurity solutions across three specialized research areas.
• According to cybersecurity firm Darktrace, 78 percent of chief information security officers report that AI-powered cyber threats are significantly impacting their organizations.

Key research focus: AU-CAICE structures its work around three interconnected research domains that address both offensive and defensive applications of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity.

• CyberAI research explores how artificial intelligence can enhance cybersecurity capabilities and defenses.
• SecureAI focuses on ensuring AI technologies themselves remain protected from compromise or exploitation.
• SecureCyberAI combines both approaches, which center director Gerry Dozier describes as requiring “real-time, self-healing, anti-fragile arms race systems for securing an AI system.”

Behind the numbers: The center builds upon a solid foundation of previous research success through its predecessor organization.

• Since 2017, Auburn’s Cyber Research Center (ACRC) has secured more than $10 million in research awards, including contracts with the U.S. Army and CIA.
• The formalized restructuring places artificial intelligence more centrally in Auburn’s cybersecurity research agenda.

Broader ecosystem: AU-CAICE aims to function as a collaborative hub beyond its research and development mission.

• The center will partner with student organizations including the Ethical Hacking Club and Society for Responsible AI.
• External collaboration will extend to the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security and the Auburn University Applied Research Institute.

What they’re saying: Dozier emphasized the center’s ambition to achieve national recognition while serving as a nexus for multisector partnerships.

• “We want our new center to be nationally recognized for being a team that successfully develops and cultivates scholarly, long-term, extramurally funded research and educational relationships,” he stated.
• Hari Narayanan, who leads AI initiatives at Auburn, noted that AU-CAICE complements the university’s expanded academic offerings, which now include new undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs in AI.