Fortinet faces high AGI disruption risk because cybersecurity is fundamentally an IT-serving-IT business, and AGI threatens both the tools and the human analysts that drive demand for network security products.
Fortinet is a global cybersecurity company that provides a wide range of network security solutions, including next-generation firewalls, secure SD-WAN, endpoint protection, cloud security, and security operations (SecOps) tools. The company's core product is the FortiGate firewall appliance, powered by its proprietary ASIC chips (Security Processing Units) that enable high-performance threat inspection. Fortinet has built a unified cybersecurity platform called the Fortinet Security Fabric that integrates its broad portfolio of security products. The company serves enterprises, service providers, and government organizations worldwide.
Enterprises of all sizes (from SMB to large enterprise), managed security service providers (MSSPs), telecommunications carriers, government agencies, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and educational institutions. Fortinet has over 775,000 customers worldwide across all industry verticals.
AGI poses a significant direct threat to Fortinet's core products. Fortinet sells firewalls, intrusion prevention, SD-WAN, and security operations tools — all of which involve pattern recognition, threat analysis, and policy enforcement that AGI could perform natively. An AGI system could continuously monitor, detect, and respond to threats without discrete 'security appliances.' If AGI is embedded into operating systems, cloud platforms, and network infrastructure at the foundational level, standalone security products could become redundant. Fortinet's customer base includes enterprises, service providers, and government organizations — many of which employ large IT and cybersecurity teams. If AGI automates cybersecurity operations, the security analyst and IT administration roles that drive demand for Fortinet's products could shrink dramatically.