Corelight, Dropzone AI, SCYTHE, SimSpace, and Sondera have announced the launch of the AI Proving Grounds Consortium (AIPGC), a new cybersecurity coalition focused on helping organizations rigorously validate AI-driven defense systems before deployment into production environments. The initiative aims to strengthen enterprise cyber resilience by enabling realistic testing, simulation, and operational validation of AI security technologies.
The AI Proving Grounds Consortium was created to help enterprises transition from proactive cyber defense to preemptive cyber resilience through realistic testing and validation of AI-driven cybersecurity systems. The coalition brings together cybersecurity and AI leaders to address growing concerns around the reliability and operational readiness of AI technologies in mission-critical security environments.
"We're in an unprecedented time; the weaponization of AI is bigger than any one organization can handle alone. That's why we're forming the AIPGC: to pool our collective ideas and cyber expertise to fuel preemptive defenses for the world's leading organizations," said Peter Lee, CEO of SimSpace and the primary organizer behind the AIPGC. "AI is transforming cybersecurity at extraordinary speed, but confidence alone is not enough. Organizations need a way to rigorously train, test, and validate AI agents together with human cyber operators under realistic conditions before those teams and systems can be trusted in production."
According to SimSpace research referenced by the consortium, nearly 80% of security leaders express confidence in their AI defenses, while actual readiness scores can drop to nearly 30% before repeated simulation exercises are conducted. The findings highlight an increasing gap between perceived preparedness and operational capability.
The consortium aims to help organizations validate AI agents and cybersecurity teams through production-like simulations designed to replicate real-world adversarial behavior. Through live exercises, collaborative programs, executive discussions, and training initiatives, AIPGC plans to help enterprises improve trust in AI-driven cybersecurity operations.
The founding members of the consortium include Corelight, Dropzone AI, SCYTHE, SimSpace, and Sondera, each contributing expertise across network detection, adversarial exposure validation, AI-powered SOC operations, cyber simulation, and AI governance.
"AI is becoming a core member of the security team, but trust is the prerequisite for adoption in the SOC. It has to be proven," said Edward Wu, Founder and CEO of Dropzone AI. "The future of the SOC isn't a single AI agent. It's multiple AI agents working together, alongside human analysts, across investigations, threat hunting, intelligence and response. As AI takes on a bigger role in security operations, trust is earned through visibility into how these systems perform in real environments, under real operational pressure, before relying on them in production. This consortium can help establish the benchmarks and standards organizations need to confidently adopt AI and accelerate its full operational impact on security."
As part of its launch, the AIPGC will host a virtual event titled Move from Proactive Defense to Preemptive Resilience on June 18, 2026. The event will feature cybersecurity experts, including FC (Freakyclown), Co-Founder of Cygenta and former Head of Offensive Cyber Research at Raytheon, alongside industry leaders discussing AI validation, operational readiness, and cyber resilience strategies.
The consortium aims to establish industry benchmarks and best practices for testing AI systems under realistic conditions before they are introduced into live enterprise environments. As organizations increasingly integrate AI into security operations, the AIPGC seeks to ensure that trust, transparency, and measurable performance remain central to enterprise cybersecurity strategies.
About the AI Proving Grounds Consortium (AIPGC)
The AI Proving Grounds Consortium (AIPGC) is a collaborative initiative uniting industry leaders, researchers, and technology innovators to advance the safe, measurable, and real-world validation of AI systems in cybersecurity and beyond. Built on the belief that AI must be proven under realistic conditions before it can be trusted in production, the Consortium promotes rigorous testing, continuous evaluation, and shared best practices across people, processes, technologies, and AI. AIPGC provides a forum for members to collaborate on realistic simulations, agentic workflow validation, operational readiness, and the responsible adoption of AI-driven capabilities. By bringing together organizations across the cybersecurity ecosystem, the Consortium helps close the gap between AI innovation and proven operational performance.
About the AIPGC Partner Organizations
Corelight - a leader in network detection and response (NDR), fueling the AI SOC with industry-leading data and detections
Dropzone AI - the leading agentic SOC company
SCYTHE - the leading Adversarial Exposure Validation platform, continuously testing organizational cyber defenses to prove whether they actually work
SimSpace - the realistic cyber simulation infrastructure for continuously training, testing, and validating AI agents.
Sondera - the real-time control plane for enterprise AI agents, providing deterministic, policy-as-code guardrails that govern what agents are allowed to do in production.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.