RSAC 2026 Recap: AI Reality Checks and the Return to GRC Fundamentals

Another RSA Conference is in the books, and if we had to sum up the mood in San Francisco this year, it would be: pragmatic.

While the neon lights of Moscone South still buzzed with “AI everything,” the conversations happening on the ground, in the booth, over coffee, and even at Oracle Park told a more nuanced story. GRC leaders aren’t looking for the next shiny object. They’re looking for things that actually work.

From the rise of AI privileged access to a collective sigh of exhaustion over legacy GRC tools, here are the five biggest things we heard from GRC leaders at RSAC 2026.

What we heard from GRC leaders: 5 takeaways from RSAC

1. AI governance is the new “Privileged Access”

Last year, everyone wanted to know what AI could do. This year, the focus shifted to what AI should be allowed to do. As AI agents become more integrated into our workflows, they require heightened permissions to be effective. We saw a massive trend toward discovery and governance. Specifically, how to monitor and restrict what an AI agent can access. It’s a new frontier of identity and access management that the compliance world is just beginning to map out.

2. GRC fatigue is real (and legacy tools are the cause)

If there was a recurring pain point in our booth conversations, it was the implementation process of legacy GRC platforms. We heard from massive organizations that have spent millions on legacy platforms only to find themselves back in spreadsheets.

The consensus? Many enterprises are looking to leave cost-prohibitive, clunky platforms. They need tools that integrate with their existing systems without the extended set up times and added cost.

3.  Traditional compliance hasn’t gone anywhere

Even with all the AI buzz, the most common pain points haven’t changed: managing stakeholders, surviving audit season, and trying not to lose track of processes in a sea of Excel tabs. Compliance professionals are less interested in AI magic tricks and more interested in how to keep operations running smoothly all year long. The traditional stuff, scalability, organization, and consistency, is still the most critical stuff.

4. Nuance over noise: The right way to do AI

Most of our competitors are peddling AI features as a “take it or leave it” package. But high-maturity organizations don’t work that way. Leaders told us they want AI that can be applied variably based on their specific policies. They don’t want AI everywhere, they want it where it makes sense.

The one major exception? TPRM. Third-Party Risk Management is the one area where everyone agreed: “Please, let the machines do this.” There is a massive appetite for deep AI automation in TPRM to kill the manual slog of vendor assessments.

5. Multi-entity compliance is the missing link

One of the most interesting moments at our booth involved Scopes. Prospects are struggling with hierarchical scopes and multi-entity compliance. It’s becoming clear that the market doesn’t just see Scopes as a control feature but they see it as a platform model that helps them organize risk across complex, global businesses.

Hyperproof at RSAC 2026

When we weren’t talking shop at the Moscone Center, we were busy showing the industry what a “pragmatic” approach to GRC actually looks like.

Our booth: HyperQuest

This year, we leaned into something a little different for our booth theme! We transformed our RSAC footprint into a HyperQuest where GRC heroes are made, a fantasy-inspired experience that turned GRC into an adventure.

Attendees could step up to the challenge: identify a threat, select a control, submit their evidence, and claim their prize. It sounds simple, but it was a simple way to show how Hyperproof makes GRC feel less like a burden and more like something you can actually conquer.

Launching our AI Guided Experiences

We officially pulled the curtain back on our AI Guided Experiences. True to what we heard from leaders this week, these experiences aren’t about replacing the human element; they’re about removing the friction. Whether it’s automating evidence mapping or streamlining risk intake, we’re focusing on the nuanced AI that organizations actually asked for.

A night at the park: SF Giants vs. NY Yankees

It wouldn’t be RSAC without a little fun. The team took a break from the windowless conference halls to host a night at the ballpark. Watching the SF Giants and NY Yankees face off was the perfect backdrop to reconnect with our customers and partners. There’s something about a stadium hot dog and a cold drink that makes talking about GRC more enjoyable.

Final takeaways

If RSAC 2026 taught us anything, it’s that there is a shift happening in GRC. The era of over-promising AI and over-complicated implementations is ending. Practitioners are demanding tools that are easy to adopt, focus on UI/UX, and actually solve the problems of multi-entity risk and scale.

We’re heading home feeling validated. At Hyperproof, we’ve always believed that compliance is a team sport and that the best tools are the ones people actually want to use.

See you next year, SF! (Or you can see us for a demo long before then.)