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The growing popularity of artificial intelligence tools has created a new hunting ground for cybercriminals, who are increasingly leveraging AI's appeal to distribute malicious software. Early 2026 has seen a significant surge in AI-themed malware campaigns specifically targeting businesses.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are particularly vulnerable to these evolving threats, which often rely on social engineering tactics and deceptive software downloads. Reports indicate that malware attacks disguised as AI-related software have increased fivefold during the initial months of 2026, posing a substantial risk to these organizations.

Kaspersky's analysis of the SMB threat landscape reveals that attackers are most effectively impersonating well-known AI platforms. ChatGPT was the most frequent lure, accounting for 42 percent of detected AI-themed campaigns. Other popular impersonations included Claude at 24 percent and DeepSeek at 20 percent.

The majority of these identified threats were Trojans. These malicious programs are designed with the primary intent to steal sensitive data, install additional harmful software onto compromised systems, or otherwise undermine the security and integrity of infected devices.