TechCapsules

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Google Cloud COO Francis de Souza recently discussed the importance of prioritizing security in AI development, emphasizing that it cannot be an afterthought. He warned about "shadow AI" and the need for companies to demand security, governance, and auditability from their platforms. De Souza also noted that the threat landscape has changed, with the average time between an initial breach and the next stage of an attack dropping to 22 seconds. He advocated for an AI-native, fully agentic defense, where organizations can run agents driving their defense. Meanwhile, Google Cloud developers have been hit with unexpected five-figure bills due to unauthorized API calls to Gemini models, highlighting the challenges of AI security. The company has refunded some affected developers, but has no plans to change its billing practices. De Souza's comments highlight the ongoing struggle to navigate AI security, even for major companies like Google.