AI Security: Israel's Opportunity
Israel is already a major hub for protecting AI systems and agents. The risks alarming the world could become a significant opportunity.
We non-Americans don't get a seat at the table where Trump and the AI industry's top brass are deciding the world's fate. We Israelis are exposed to all the dangers (models slipping out of control, hacks both malicious and accidental), which grow by the minute, yet we have no say in the policies that count. How frightening!
Yet this very intersection of AI and cyber risk hands Israel a fantastic opportunity. In AI we may be lagging a little, but in cyber? Oh ho, that's our home turf! Bring on the threats, the breaches, the wars.
"How do we carry Israel's comparative advantage in cyber over to AI?" I've chaired perhaps 13 panels with that title at conferences of every kind. And now the world has gone and done the carrying for us.
This isn't really new. Israel is already a leading global hub for AI security: not merely using AI to detect attacks, but protecting AI itself. Israeli companies are building mechanisms that prevent data leaks, spot malicious instructions hidden in documents and websites, and rein in AI agents that might act beyond their permissions or against company policy. Precisely the things the world is afraid of.
There's already serious money here. SentinelOne announced its acquisition of Israel's Prompt Security in a deal reported at around $250 million; Noma raised $100 million in 2025, and Zenity raised $125 million in August 2026.
So how prominent is Israel, and where does it stand globally? According to the industry map maintained by Prompt Security, Israel ranks second only to the US, with 104 of the 451 companies in AI and agent security, roughly 23%. That isn't an official market share, but the picture is clear: Israel is already one of the leading centres for ventures that protect us from AI's harms.
And this is only the beginning. Soon AI will be unusable without protective tools like these. Economically, perhaps even legally, it won't be possible to run it without passing cyber controls. Israel's opportunity has never shone brighter.
