Nikesh Arora on AI, Cybersecurity, and the Next Tech Tectonic Shift "There's 10 times more information in private domains...this proprietary data could give select entities an insurmountable edge while building AI models," says Nikesh Arora, Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks
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Artificial intelligence is the most talked-about topic in the world right now, and yet we don't know where this race will end—since even world leaders don't fully understand the kind or extent of potential AI holds. From AI bots to agentic browsers to autonomous robots, everything is happening at once.
This may still be the initial phase of AI, yet it has already come to dominate a significant portion of the global market. In 2024, the global market size of AI stood at USD 233.46 billion and is projected to grow from USD 294.16 billion in 2025 to USD 1,771.62 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 29.2 per cent during the forecast period.
That's a massive leap, and as Nikesh Arora, Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, believes, we are now on the brink of another tectonic shift—the democratisation of intelligence.
"When intelligence gets normalised, what are the consequences of that?" he asks. "Nobody's smarter than the other. So what becomes the new differentiation? Solving unknown problems."
Another sector evolving at breakneck speed is the cybersecurity industry. The global cybersecurity market size was valued at USD 172.24 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow from USD 193.73 billion in 2024 to USD 562.72 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 14.3 per cent during the forecast period.
During The People Podcast, Nikhil Kamath asked Arora where investors should look for opportunities in cybersecurity. Arora cautioned against chasing narrow trends. "Don't worry about one particular cybersecurity vector to invest in," he said, emphasising that the impact of AI is far broader and more foundational. While cybersecurity remains a critical area—especially as AI introduces new attack vectors and automates threat actions—the real opportunity, he implied, lies in the reimagination of product development itself.
Private Data, Capital, and Compute
When asked whether capital will become the defining competitive advantage in an AI-saturated world, Arora replied, "I did say the big get bigger, right? As long as they play their cards right." But he highlighted a more powerful moat: private data.
While current AI models are largely trained on public data, he stressed that the real treasure lies in proprietary information—the kind locked inside pharmaceutical labs, semiconductor giants, and enterprise systems.
"There's 10 times more information in private domains," he said. This proprietary data could give select entities an insurmountable edge, especially in building domain-specific AI agents. Quantum computing might eventually unlock some of this, but Arora isn't convinced it will fundamentally change the equation.
Admiration, Risk, and Role Models
Rather than subscribing to the idea of a singular role model, Arora emphasised the importance of admiring individuals for specific qualities they excel in, without blindly adopting every aspect of their persona.
"I believe in the concept of admiring people for something that they're really good at," he said candidly. Using Elon Musk as an example, he noted how someone can be admired for their ingenuity and accomplishments, but that doesn't necessarily mean every part of their life is worth emulating. "Do I want to have 15 children with five different people? Or do I want to be in politics? So, I think modelling your entire life around one person is a big ask."
This realisation became more personal for Arora when he turned 40. He made a deliberate shift in how he viewed people: "I said, from now on, when I meet people, I'm going to think about what they're really good at." He acknowledged that for much of his life, he had evaluated others based on how closely they mirrored his own definition of success. But now he sees it differently: "You can flip that lens and say, some people have succeeded in ways I'd never have imagined. There's something interesting there. How did they do that?"
Drawing from his experience at Google, Arora recounted a pivotal moment involving Larry Page, co-founder of the company. After meeting Steve Jobs, Larry recounted how Jobs had urged him to focus on doing one thing really well. But Larry disagreed. "I believe it's a question of capacity," he said, according to Arora. "If you have great people, you can motivate them. They can go build great stuff." Larry's product obsession was evident when, as CEO, he decided to have ten direct reports—seven of whom were product leaders. He told Arora bluntly, "I have to go build great products in the company. You keep doing what you're doing." Larry never found time for a deeper business discussion; he was too busy refining the company's core.
This led Arora to reflect on an enduring truth in the tech world: "Tech companies that lose sight of great products eventually fail."
Beyond the boardroom, Arora also mused on cultural values and risk, especially in the Indian context. He spoke about how Indian parenting often revolves around de-risking children's lives. "The best risk manager in the world is your mother," he joked. From not putting things in our mouths as toddlers to choosing safe jobs and stable marriages, the Indian upbringing is designed around minimising uncertainty.
And then there's Masayoshi Son (Masa), the visionary founder of SoftBank, whom Arora worked closely with. "Between the age of 50 and 60, he was sort of Benjamin Button," Arora said. "He was going, touching everything his mother said don't touch, and being more and more risky." Unlike most entrepreneurs, who take risks to eventually create stability, Arora concluded.