AI Insiders: Cybersecurity

Acceleration Amid Turbulence.

The AI buildout is moving at full speed. Markets are volatile. Exploit timelines have collapsed to zero. And security for AI clocked in at just 2.6% of total cyber funding in 2025.

This invite-only salon brings together 150 security leaders, AI founders, and investors to confront what's real, what's hype, and where the next wave of cyber defense is actually heading.

AI Insiders is not a conference. It's a vertical intelligence network. Each edition is laser-focused on one sector. This one: Cybersecurity.

Why This Day Matters

Everyone is talking about AI threats. But the real questions are harder:

• If time-to-exploit is now zero, what does your vulnerability management strategy work at all?

• AI is reshaping identity, access, and trust at every layer. What's the framework for accountability at the boundaries where human agency ends and AI agency begins?

• Security for AI captured just 2.6% of cyber investment funding last year. Where is the money actually going, and where should it be going?

• The industry is moving fast under pressure. What needs to accelerate, and what needs to cool down?

If you're building, buying, funding, or defending AI systems, this is the room where those answers take shape.

Agenda

2:00 PM - Arrival & Networking Curated matchmaking, craft drinks, and light bites.

2:30 PM - Opening Remarks Julie Tsai, Bhavya Gupta, Sharat Ganesh, Merve Isler (Marvelous).

2:40 PM - Keynote: Paul Calatayud. Acceleration amid Turbulence. The AI buildout, the security gap, and what leaders need to do now.

3:00 PM - Intelligence Briefing: The AI Threat Landscape Yair Saban (AIR Security). What organizations must do right now to stay ahead.

3:15 PM - Panel 1: "Where the Money Is" Moderated by Caleb Sima. Featuring: Matan Lamdan (Striker Venture Partners), Niv Hoffman (AIR Security), Brooke Motta (RAD Security)

3:55 PM - Panel 2: "Is Your Agent Human?" Moderated by Sharat Ganesh (WitnessAI). Featuring Ian Ahl (Permiso Security), Emil Larson (AIUC), Project NANDA (MIT), .

4:35 PM - Fireside: "Leading for Security and Privacy through Uncertainty" Michelle Dennedy, Julie Tsai, Bhavya Gupta.

5:05 PM - Startup Showcase startups. Five minutes each. The next generation of cyber defense.

5:35 PM - Closing Remarks

6:00 - 7:30 PM - Networking Reception Drinks and conversation continue in the Chorus Theater lobby.

8:00 - 10:00 PM - [Limited Capacity] VIP Speakeasy by AIR (speakers, partners, and select guests only) An intimate evening with the people who shaped the conversation. By invitation only.

Speaker Highlights

Paul Calatayud (CircleRock Capital) is Partner at CircleRock Capital and one of the most decorated security executives in the industry, having served as Chief Information Security Officer five times across Palo Alto Networks, UnitedHealth Group, and Aqua Security. A practitioner-turned-investor, he brings rare operational depth to the intersection of AI and enterprise security, making him one of the most credible voices on where the market is heading and why.

Michelle Dennedy is a pioneering author and AI ethics leader whose work has shaped the global conversation on data privacy, governance, and responsible AI deployment. A former Chief Privacy Officer at Cisco, Sun Microsystems, and Juniper Networks, she co-authored The Privacy Engineer's Manifesto and has spent decades helping organizations build systems that earn trust at scale.

Caleb Sima (WhiteRabbit Ventures) is a Founding General Partner at WhiteRabbit Ventures and a serial entrepreneur with deep roots in offensive and applied security. A former Chief Security Officer and founder of multiple security companies, he brings a builder's instinct and operator's lens to the challenge of securing AI systems and agentic infrastructure.

Matan Lamdan (Straiker) is a venture capital investor at Straiker focused on the emerging AI security landscape. He brings a sharp investment thesis around the tools and platforms needed to defend AI-native systems as attack surfaces evolve faster than traditional frameworks can adapt.

Niv Hoffman (Air) was Co-Founder and CTO of MOAK — Mother of All KEVs — a company building the comprehensive known exploited vulnerabilities intelligence layer for the AI era. With deep technical expertise in vulnerability research and exploit intelligence, he is redefining what it means to track and operationalize threat data at machine speed.

Ian Ahl (Permiso) is Chief Technology Officer at Permiso, a cloud identity security company built to detect and respond to identity-based attacks across hybrid environments. A former threat intelligence leader and applied security researcher, he brings hands-on expertise in adversary tactics and identity threat detection to the conversation about AI-driven attacker behavior.

Emil Bender Lassen (AIUC-1) is Standards Lead at AIUC-1, where he is working to establish the first comprehensive standards framework for AI use cases in critical infrastructure. With a background spanning policy, compliance, and technical architecture, he is helping shape the governance rails that will determine how AI is evaluated, certified, and trusted in high-stakes environments.

Brooke Motta (CEO / RAD Security) is a dynamic leader in the cybersecurity industry who has scaled companies from seed to IPO. Brooke recognized the exponential growth in Kubernetes adoption as an opportunity to provide real-time security products as enterprise teams look to scale. Her decades of skilled leadership include executive positions at Sonatype, Wallarm, Bugcrowd and Rapid7.

Mahesh Lambde, Project NANDA (MIT) is a research initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focused on Networked Agents and Decentralized Architecture — building the foundational protocols and trust frameworks for multi-agent AI systems. The project addresses core questions around how autonomous agents communicate, coordinate, and operate safely across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries.

Air is a leading AI security company bringing cutting-edge expertise to the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Their leadership will deliver a keynote on the evolving threat landscape and what organizations must do to secure AI-native environments.

Startup Spotlights

Announcing next week!

Apply here: https://aiinsiders.us/showcase

Startup Showcase

5 startups. 150 security decision-makers. 5 minutes on stage.

We offer both sponsored and invited showcase slots. Whether you're ready to invest in visibility or want to earn your spot on merit, we want to hear from you.

Apply: https://aiinsiders.us/showcase

Past showcase: Lakera, Cyera, Tinfoil, Zania AI, Pangea, Straiker AI, Scale AI and more.

Who's in the Room

• 50% CISOs & security leads: budget holders and frontline operators making the decisions in Fortune 500 and high-growth companies

• 30% Founders & operators: builders shipping AI-native defense, identity, and infrastructure tools

• 10% Investors: enough capital in the room to spark deals, not enough to turn the night into a pitchfest

• 10% Media & analysts: narrative makers who amplify signal and cohere the story while keeping privileged conversation off the record

Access

Private, invite-only. Request waitlist access; every name is vetted for trust and impact.

Learn more: https://aiinsiders.us

Sponsorship: https://aiinsiders.us/partnerships

Past Partners: AWS, Silicon Valley Bank, Swissnex, Verizon Innovation Lab

Past media coverage: Reuters, Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, Morningstar

Past speakers and partners from: a16z, Greylock, Menlo Ventures, Ballistic Ventures, Rain Capital, CRV, FBI, Stanford, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, DeepMind, and more.

Past events: https://lu.ma/agenticai | https://lu.ma/csecurity

Attendance & Registration

• Limited to 150 curated attendees

• Government ID or passport required for entry

• Must be registered and approved

• Venue policies apply

Code of Conduct: All speakers and guests are expected to engage respectfully and professionally.

Explore our vision further at: https://aiinsiders.us