The connection between artificial intelligence and cybersecurity has never been more critical—or fascinating. The entire world is witnessing a significant revolution in cyber defense, as attackers exploit AI capabilities to become more sophisticated and creative, while security companies compete to develop breakthrough defensive solutions. We are in a new technological era full of challenges and opportunities.
In a new weekly video series—hosted by Forbes magazine—Michael Matias, CEO of Clarity and Forbes 30 Under 30 alum, will converse with cybersecurity industry leaders—founders, CEOs, and thought leaders—about the future of cyber defense in the changing world of artificial intelligence. The series will explore how evolving AI technologies are reshaping many areas related to cyber defense—including phishing prevention and cloud security—and will discuss the challenges and opportunities of the new era for organizations worldwide.
Each week, the series will feature video interviews alongside articles featuring senior executives in the cybersecurity world who are leading the new era. The goal is to make these insights accessible to information security professionals, business leaders, government decision-makers, and the general public—and to encourage deeper understanding and sharing of insights among the technology community about evolving cyber threats and innovative AI-based solutions needed.
Why Now?
Cybercriminals are rapidly adopting AI technologies to launch more targeted and sophisticated attacks. Today, all systems—including financial, governmental, corporate, communication platforms, and internal organizational infrastructure—are more vulnerable than ever to emerging technologies being weaponized against them.
Phishing attacks, for example, now rely on AI-generated digital identities and messages that perfectly mimic authentic communications, enabling them to bypass traditional security measures. At the same time, the rapid migration to the cloud introduces new vulnerabilities, demanding real-time AI-based defensive strategies.
In this innovative and challenging era, security teams must adapt quickly. They need to develop advanced AI tools to identify existing and emerging threats, detect anomalies, thwart various types of attacks, and accelerate response time to potential breaches.
The series will delve into these challenges and others, showing how leading experts in the field are building new AI-based cybersecurity strategies and technologies designed to address the new era.
A Look into Upcoming Conversations
Phishing Prevention: How AI analyzes linguistic and subtle signals in messages and digital identities (deepfakes), enabling cybersecurity platforms to anticipate and thwart attacks before they reach the potential victim.
Network Security: How artificial intelligence can continuously monitor network activity in real-time, detect suspicious behaviors, and find quick solutions to new and sophisticated attacks.
Cloud Security: As organizations move to the cloud, AI tools become essential for identifying configuration errors, preventing unauthorized access, and stopping data leakage attempts in real-time. We’ll discuss these risks and the tools needed to address them.
Senior Executive Insights: We’ll hear from the personal experiences of cybersecurity industry leaders about the promises alongside the risks that AI presents to the digital world across a wide range of known risks and those they anticipate needing to address in the future.
Age is Only an Int
Michael Matias is the CEO and Co-Founder of Clarity, an AI-powered cybersecurity startup backed by venture capital firms including Bessemer Venture Partners and Walden Catalyst. Clarity specializes in developing AI-driven technologies to protect organizations against advanced phishing attacks, including deepfake and AI-generated social engineering threats. “Every day, I closely witness attackers becoming more creative and sophisticated, underscoring the need for innovative AI-powered solutions in effectively tackling these cybersecurity challenges,” Matias explains.
Prior to founding Clarity, Matias studied Computer Science with a specialization in AI at Stanford University and led cybersecurity teams in Unit 8200 of the Israel Defense Forces. Forbes Israel recognized Matias at an exceptionally young age, selecting him for the exclusive 18Under18 list published in 2013. Three years later, he was also selected for Forbes 30Under30. Matias is the author of the book “Age is Only an Int” and hosts the podcast 20MinuteLeaders.
