Wiz co-founder Ami Luttwak on why AI’s explosive growth demands a radical rethink of cloud security—because if developers can "vibe-code" apps in an hour, security must keep pace with the same speed, simplicity, and scale.

Ami Luttwak, cofounder and chief technology officer of Wiz, says the rise of artificial intelligence is forcing a fundamental shift in how cloud security must be approached. With AI enabling developers to build applications at unprecedented speed—what he calls "vibe-code"—security teams can no longer operate as gatekeepers. Instead, security must evolve to keep pace, becoming embedded, intuitive, and self-service within the developer workflow. Luttwak reflects on Wiz’s journey, from its founding in 2020 during the pandemic to its current position as a leader in cloud security. The company initially focused on network exposure but pivoted quickly when the pandemic accelerated the shift to the cloud. What started as a niche idea grew rapidly—reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue within 18 months—because it solved a real, urgent problem: securing the sprawling, dynamic environments that companies were now operating in. Now, with AI automating code generation, the pace of development has increased exponentially. Luttwak notes that developers can now build entire applications in an hour, far outpacing the traditional, centralized security review process. "There are hundreds of developers to every one security person," he says. "You can't scale security by slowing down." The old model—where security teams acted like building inspectors, reviewing every change before approval—is no longer viable. Instead, Luttwak advocates for democratizing security: making it accessible and actionable for every engineer. "If you build it, you own it," he says. Security must be simple, intuitive, and integrated—like the iPhone, where powerful features are easy to use without deep expertise. This shift requires rethinking not just tools, but culture. Security is still seen as a bottleneck, even though it’s mission-critical. "It’s second-class within engineering," Luttwak admits, "and it’s also boring." But he argues that the best security teams are the ones that make the process feel empowering, not burdensome. Wiz is responding by building AI-powered systems that analyze risks in real time, offering developers actionable insights without slowing them down. At the same time, the company is navigating customer concerns about AI use—some want it banned due to risk, others demand it to stay competitive. Luttwak emphasizes that Wiz is building strict internal and external data pipelines to ensure AI is used responsibly, especially when handling sensitive customer data. Despite the hype around AI-generated code, Luttwak cautions that it doesn’t replace skilled engineers, especially for complex systems. The real value lies in using AI to augment human judgment, not replace it. Looking ahead, he acknowledges the threat of new AI-native security startups. But he believes Wiz’s edge lies in its deep, multi-layered understanding of cloud environments—spanning code, identity, networks, secrets, and threats. "We’re like Google Maps," he says. "You need all the layers to see the full picture." With AI accelerating innovation, the key to security isn’t slowing down—it’s evolving faster.