“I don’t think that word means what you think it means.” For the umpteenth time, testing of frontier AI models showed how they were able to escape their “secured” sandbox. Does anyone get the sinking feeling that these AI companies, although technically brilliant, aren’t at the forefront of understanding cybersecurity or able to manage the emerging strategic risks?

Friendly reminder, technical competence is not a substitute for cybersecurity experience and leadership. They are different, yet related disciplines that must incorporate other aspects, skills, and understanding necessary to address complex technical, behavior, and process risks.

Perhaps it is time for these trillion-dollar companies to properly invest in the right leaders, staff, tools, and business priorities to bolster the prediction, prevention, detection, and response capabilities of cybersecurity. Building a secure testing sandbox is not an “inconceivable” challenge, especially as compared to the upcoming structures necessary to operate such AI systems across the globe as they oversee and interact with critical infrastructures, warfare, communications, data, and ultimately used to shape society.

Let’s start strong.