Artificial intelligence has been playing a transformative role in protecting and securing data, not only fortifying defenses but also propelling businesses into a realm of unprecedented productivity and trust.

The partnership between Palo Alto Networks Inc. and Google Cloud has played a big part in the combination of cybersecurity and AI, as both companies strive to safeguard the digital assets of organizations. As businesses navigate the complexities of the digital landscape, embracing AI-powered security solutions becomes imperative.

“One of the biggest challenges on why people want to adopt AI is trust and security,” said Munish Khetrapal (pictured), vice president of Google Cloud at Palo Alto Networks. “We platformized security. We want to protect our customers so that as they go and transition to AI. We can create a whole lot of value.”

Khetrapal spoke with theCUBE Research analysts John Furrier, Rob Strechay and Rebecca Knight at Google Cloud Next 2024, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the partnership between Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud and how it represents a leap forward in revolutionizing the approach to cybersecurity by leveraging AI and cloud technologies. (* Disclosure below.)

The new AI paradigm

AI transcends being just a technological advancement — it’s a new paradigm for business. The transformative power of AI is positioning it as a catalyst for unparalleled productivity growth, according to Khetrapal.

“This is a common conversation we have with our customers every day,” he said. “Our focus is really about securing AI. We are going to use AI to create better security. One of the biggest use cases for AI is going to be applying it to cybersecurity.”

Central to the discussion was the critical role of AI in addressing the pressing challenges of trust and security in AI adoption. With Palo Alto Networks’ expertise in security, combined with Google Cloud’s infrastructure prowess, the collaboration aims to instill trust and enhance security for businesses venturing into AI adoption. This multi-billion-dollar commitment signifies a tangible investment in fostering a secure AI landscape.

“It’s primarily for disconnected networks, defense networks, sovereign cloud infrastructure, where we embedded our next-generation security platform, the zero-trust platform into the whole capability that customers can deploy AI on,” said Khetrapal, referencing the newly announced Google Data Cloud infrastructure in partnership with Palo Alto Networks. “You don’t necessarily need connections to cloud and the internet to develop AI capability.”

Delivering trust with end-to-end security outcomes

Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud take part in co-engineering efforts and integrated solutions aimed at delivering end-to-end security outcomes. With over 50 co-engineered integrations, the companies are aligning their strengths to provide comprehensive security solutions that seamlessly traverse cloud environments and protect critical assets, according to Khetrapal.

“I think the testimony for us is not the fact that we are growing a hundred percent, not that we have 25 products; [it] is that customers deploying on Google Cloud infrastructure will like to secure themselves,” he said. “You don’t get up in the morning saying, ‘I’m going to buy a great firewall.’ You get up in the morning to say … ‘I want to deploy a new application, improve my supply chain.’”

Real-time security, empowered by AI-driven insights, holds the promise of proactive threat identification and mitigation. This symbiotic relationship between AI and security represents the pinnacle of innovation, with both Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud at the forefront of helping to drive this transformative shift.

“That’s really where we announced the autonomous AI product, which we are partnering with Google,” Khetrapal said. “We are using a lot of the Google Cloud infrastructure, the BigQuery infrastructure. That’s the cornerstone of creating great AI. You have good data, you have good models and then you can deliver great security. That’s what we do in our SecOps platform.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of Google Cloud Next 2024: 

(* Disclosure: Palo Alto Networks Inc.  sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Palo Alto Networks nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE