A Conversation With Alastair Paterson

https://ul.live/harmonic-security_yt I just had a great conversation with Alastair Paterson of Harmonic AI dive into how they help companies safely adopt AI by tracking actual usage and ROI instead of just throwing up roadblocks. We talked about how shifting the security team from being the typical "gatekeeper" into a strategic enabler is an absolute game-changer for magnifying a company's overall productivity. What We Talk About: Turning Security into a Partner: We dive into the massive challenge of getting enterprises to adopt AI safely and how we're trying to shift security teams from being annoying gatekeepers into strategic partners for the business. Ditching Crappy ROI Metrics: We laugh about how companies currently track AI success by giving a "gold star" to whoever burns the most tokens, and how we need to track actual use cases and real ROI instead of just prompt volume. Shining a Light on Shadow AI: I check out how Harmonic gives unprecedented visibility into what apps employees are actually using—like ChatGPT or Gemini—and how it helps us spot unapproved shadow AI usage across the company. Tracking Autonomous Agents: We geek out over the next iteration of AI tracking, which goes beyond just what employees are doing to actually monitoring the use cases, mandates, and token usage of autonomous agents. The F1 Brakes Philosophy: I bring up my favorite analogy about how F1 brakes exist to let you go faster safely, and we discuss how AI governance should be about jumping in only to coach and nudge, ensuring maximum enablement rather than just blocking everything. 00:00 - The Core Problem 01:06 - Product Evolution 08:58 - Tracking Real Value 11:48 - The Agent Era 19:14 - Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up Subscribe to the newsletter at: https://danielmiessler.com/subscribe Join the UL community at: https://danielmiessler.com/upgrade Follow on X: https://x.com/danielmiessler Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmiessler/