AI is behind a surge in automated, hard-to-detect, and challenging-to-prevent cyberattacks. From AI-driven phishing to adversarial AI to ransomware, cybercriminals are choosing their weapons, and they are AI-enabled. The situation is alarming. 

AI-powered firewalls are one of the measures organizations can take in response to this. But when it comes to budget, no matter how alarming the situation, a justification must be made. 

The Problem and the Costs That Come With AI-Assisted Cyberattacks 

The research indicates that almost three-quarters (74%) of IT security professionals say their organizations are experiencing significant impacts from AI-powered threats.  

The net result of this increase is felt in data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other harmful security incidents. The average cost of a data breach is estimated to be around $4.88 million. Consequently, the AI-powered cybersecurity market is expected to show a CAGR of 24.4% by 2030, from $25.35 billion in 2024. AI firewalls are the next generation, taking on the scourge of cyber threats by fighting AI with AI. However, a business must justify its spending on cybersecurity. 

Is it Really Necessary to Upgrade to an AI-Powered Firewall? 

AI-powered firewalls are optimized to detect sophisticated emerging threats posed by AI-assisted cyberattacks. They use behavioral analysis and anomaly detection to detect unusual and suspicious activities within milliseconds. The technology self-learns and adapts to the changing environment, predicting patterns and identifying potential threats before they become an incident. Conversely, on-AI technologies cannot detect anomalous patterns as their activity is based on predefined and static rules.  

Another aspect of AI-powered firewalls that is missing from their traditional counterparts is the ability to perform a deep-pocket inspection. This capability provides the means to learn about attack techniques, tactics, and processes as they happen. AI firewalls also self-adapt and self-adjust policies based on a real-time assessment without human intervention. The benefit of integration with CMS systems means that threat intelligence can be shared with security information and event management systems (SIEM) to enhance cybersecurity. 

What are the Challenges of AI-Powered Firewalls? 

AI-powered firewalls can be expensive: Implementation is a cost barrier as it can take time-to-value (TTV). The amount of time depends on the scale of the company, business, or government authority. It is important to evaluate implementation variables, as some AI-based firewalls can be lengthy to implement, often taking weeks to deploy. Affordability, especially for smaller organizations, can be off-putting. However, cloud-based AI firewalls working in a virtual machine provide value for money and cost-effectiveness. 

False positives: Some AI-powered firewalls may have issues with false positives, leading to IT overhead in dealing with them. Subsequent alert fatigue can also be an issue, resulting in missed threats. Since these systems rely on AI, resolving false positives isn’t as simple as adjusting traditional rules—it requires retraining the underlying AI models.  

Privacy issues and compliance: AI-powered firewalls utilize vast amounts of data, which could potentially impact data privacy regulatory compliance. Ensure that your AI-powered firewall uses privacy-enhancing technologies like data masking and anonymization and can perform compliance checks. 

Lack of in-house AI expertise: Many smaller organizations lack AI expertise, making it difficult to evaluate, manage, and maintain an AI-powered firewall.  

The Cost-Benefit of AI-Powered Firewalls 

Predictive threat hunting: The Return on Investment (ROI) when deploying an AI-powered firewall is felt most keenly in the impact of unknown or emerging cyber threats. Add to this the fact that in early 2025, organizations faced an average of 1,925 cyberattacks every week. 

Noncompliance with regulations: The cost of fines for data breaches can be high. For example, GDPR noncompliance can cost up to 4% of annual turnover or 20 million euros, whichever is higher. 

Migration costs: Migration from traditional firewalls to AI firewalls may seem costly. However, if there has been a large investment in traditional firewall technology, some AI firewalls can coexist with the traditional install base. Indeed, this hybrid model can be highly efficient. The AI engine detects malicious traffic, sharing this intelligence with the traditional firewall to block the traffic. 

ROI to Justify an AI-Powered Firewall 

The ROI of an AI firewall must take multiple variables into account. Each ROI calculation will be on a per-company basis. However, the general form of the ROI equation is as follows: 

 Annual cost of security incidents: Estimate your current risk levels and associated costs based on metrics from research by analysts and vendors. Include risks such as impact on customer loyalty, for example, 95% of organizations believe their customers would not buy from them if they did not protect data properly.   

Annual cost of AI-powered firewall: Will differ depending on the organization’s size and whether it is delivered via an MSP. For example, Edge-AI solutions may start at $0.5/device/month, with costs varying based on the number of devices and overall infrastructure complexity. 

There is also an option to connect an external threat feed to your existing firewall, which will provide instructions on what threats to block. The AI itself will reside in a separate platform that analyzes all the data. This approach makes the transition to an AI-powered firewall more cost-effective. 

Further justification comes from the IBM study, which found organizations that used AI security prevention solutions saved a dramatic USD $2.22 million compared to those that didn’t. This is around a 45% cost saving by using AI to fight AI.

Conclusion 

AI-powered firewalls are a lifesaver across all sectors as cybercriminals exploit AI for nefarious purposes. They place a massive burden on organizations to respond accordingly. With the right type of architecture, an AI firewall can be cost-effective and easy to deploy and integrate into existing security stacks. A cloud-based, scalable AI-powered firewall can justify your purchase of this technology.