Investors fund AI to stop AI from scaming
A startup's $15 million raise highlights the paradox of using AI to fight AI-driven cybercrime.
The story
A startup called Overwatch, led by Arjun Bisen, has raised $15 million to combat AI-driven cybercrime, which Bisen claims has become more effective and interconnected than ever before.
Source: fortune.com
Our reading
The startup’s CEO says AI has made cybercrime so cheap and fast that it’s now a zero-barrier-to-entry industry, with one threat actor launching 100 attack campaigns in five days. Meanwhile, the company’s investors include Visa and Capital One, who are presumably hoping to keep their customers from getting scammed by the same AI that’s making scamming so easy.
It’s a strange loop: the same technology that makes cybercrime cheaper and more widespread is also being sold as the solution to the problem. The investors are betting on a system that’s designed to detect and stop the very AI they helped make ubiquitous.
Overwatch’s customers include Cash App and DoorDash, which means they’re probably also using the same AI to process payments, making the whole thing feel like a digital game of whack-a-mole where the moles are constantly rebuilding themselves.
