Ransomware's AI Adoption Curve: From Marketing Claim to Operating Model
Somewhere in the first nine months of 2026, AI stopped being a talking point in ransomware and became part of how the work actually gets done. Tracking new ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) launches, darknet recruitment ads and public incident reporting through this period shows a three-step progression: AI as advertising, AI as an assistant, and AI built directly into ransomware.