JERUSALEM, July 26 (Reuters) - Check Point Software Technologies on Wednesday reported a higher-than-expected profit for the second quarter and said it was stepping up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to protect against a growing number of AI-related cyber attacks.

The Israeli-based company said it earned $2.00 per diluted share excluding one-off items in the April-June quarter, up 22% from $1.64 a year earlier. Revenue grew 3% to $589 million.

It was forecast to earn $1.90 a share on revenue of $589 million, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.

Product and licence revenues fell by 12% to $117 million, although security subscription revenue for its cyber security platform that prevents attacks across networks, mobile and the cloud gained 14% to $239 million.

Chief Executive Gil Shwed said the company was boosting the amount of AI engines in its products while it has conducted so-called hackathon events on how to incorporate new generation generative AI technology.

"Our research team showed that AI can be used to create more sophisticated attacks by less sophisticated people. So AI is definitely a something in our marketplace nowadays. And we are very involved with it," Shwed told a news conference.

"I'm trying to focus most of our energy about how AI can work in our favour and not against us," he said. "AI has tons of potential and we should and we should leverage it and we should do more with AI ... It's part of the natural evolution of our market and I think it's a challenge and an opportunity for us."

Shwed added that Check Point was facing increased pricing pressures from customers this year but it was not overly dramatic from prior quarters.

Check Point said it bought back 2.6 million shares in the quarter, worth $325 million, as part of its ongoing $2 billion share buyback programme.

Its Nasdaq-listed shares are up 2% in 2023 to $128.71.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; editing by Jason Neely and David Evans)