Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski says Europe needs a Cold War-style deterrence strategy for AI-powered warfare. His warning is pointed: he estimates cyberattacks in Poland could rise tenfold in 2027 as frontier AI models become more capable and accessible.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
Gawkowski, who oversees Poland’s Ministry for Digital Affairs, made the remarks in a conversation with journalists attended by Euronews. He argued that attacks on critical infrastructure by state adversaries could leave countries unable to respond, and called for Europe to signal that it would retaliate. He also urged countries to revise their security strategies and resources.
The tenfold figure is Gawkowski’s forecast, not a measured prediction established by the report. He described recent attacks disrupting supermarket refrigeration across Europe as a prelude to worse incidents, but that characterisation is his warning, not proof that those attacks were AI-driven.
Why it matters
This is a senior European official arguing that AI changes the scale and strategic meaning of cyber threats. The language of deterrence raises the stakes beyond familiar questions about protecting networks: it asks how governments should respond when digital attacks are treated as acts of war.
That argument also needs careful handling. A call for retaliation is a political position, and the report does not establish that AI caused the cited supermarket incidents or that a tenfold rise in attacks is certain.
Our read
Gawkowski’s warning deserves attention because it connects AI capabilities to the security of essential services, while making a very consequential case for deterrence. But the forecast and the proposed response should be debated as claims and policy, not mistaken for established facts. Europe could use a serious conversation about cyber resilience; invoking mutually assured destruction makes that conversation considerably less cosy.
What to watch
- Whether Poland or other European governments turn the warning into concrete security proposals.
- What evidence is offered for the forecast of a tenfold rise in cyberattacks.
- Whether officials distinguish AI-enabled attacks from cyberattacks more broadly. Read Euronews’ account of Gawkowski’s remarks.
Discussion spark: Should Europe make credible retaliation part of its response to AI-enabled cyberattacks, or should resilience and clear limits on escalation come first?
Sources and evidence
- Europe needs Cold War-like deterrence for AI warfare, Poland says – Euronews.com (7 November 2026, 07:00 UTC)
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