AI and the End of Alert Fatigue: A Conversation with Tsion (TJ) Gonen, Cybersecurity Expert

AI and the End of Alert Fatigue: A Conversation with Tsion (TJ) Gonen, Cybersecurity Expert

By Michael Matias, CEO of Clarity and Forbes 30 Under 30 alum

For decades, cybersecurity vendors have armed defenders with dashboards filled with red alerts. But they rarely delivered solutions. As Tsion (TJ) Gonen put it in our recent conversation: “97% of tools just showed you a red screen that said, basically, ‘you suck.’” No remediation. No action. Just fatigue.That paradigm is ending—and AI is the catalyst.Gonen, a veteran cybersecurity leader and founder of Protego Labs (acquired by Check Point), has spent three decades watching the industry wrestle with inefficiency. Today, he sees a profound shift. “Security teams don’t want more tools,” he told me. “They want outcomes. They want closed loops.”This point echoes what Dorit Dor, CTO of Check Point, told me: AI isn’t just another layer of detection. It must act—autonomously and in real-time. At Clarity, we see this daily as we intercept deepfakes and AI-generated phishing attacks that move too fast for human intervention.But before the shift to AI, Gonen argues, the security industry was already in trouble. Too much noise. Not enough signal. “Cybersecurity reached a tipping point even before AI,” he said. “People began to question if the whole model was working.”AI, he believes, doesn’t just enhance existing tools—it reshapes the game. From reducing product development costs to enabling automated response, AI democratizes defense the same way it democratized attack. “The ability to close loops automatically is what makes AI transformational,” he said.It’s a point that also came up in my conversation with Shahar Peled of Terra Security. Shahar talked about replacing manual pentesting with agentic AI. Gonen’s vision is broader: don’t just find issues—resolve them, immediately and autonomously.Yet many founders, he warns, still fall into the same trap: mistaking incremental tech improvements for true breakthroughs. “Real differentiation isn’t just in the tech,” Gonen said. “It’s in how well you integrate into operational workflows.”This distinction—between technology and execution—reminds me of what Tsion (TJ) shares with leaders like Tom Mes: the CISO’s job has become impossibly complex. What they need now isn’t another blinking dashboard. It’s simplicity. Precision. And trust.Looking ahead, Gonen doesn’t expect a flood of brand-new threat categories. Instead, he sees opportunity in rethinking how we solve familiar ones. “You don’t have to invent new problems to build great companies,” he said. “You just have to solve the old ones better—with AI.”The future, he believes, belongs to startups that deliver true operational integration and seamless user experience—not flashy tech for its own sake. His call to entrepreneurs: don’t bolt AI onto your platform. Build with it from day one.My biggest takeaway? The next generation of cybersecurity leaders won’t be judged by how many alerts they generate. They’ll be judged by how many threats they prevent—automatically.We’ve reached a breaking point. Organizations that embrace AI as a core strategy—not just a feature—will define the next era of cybersecurity.About Michael Matias:Michael Matias is the CEO and Co-Founder of Clarity, an AI-powered cybersecurity startup backed by venture capital firms including Bessemer Venture Partners and Walden Catalyst. Clarity develops advanced AI technologies protecting organizations from sophisticated phishing attacks and AI-generated social engineering threats, including deepfakes. Before founding Clarity, Matias studied Computer Science with a specialization in AI at Stanford University and led cybersecurity teams in Unit 8200 of the Israel Defense Forces. Forbes Israel recognized him early on, naming him to the exclusive 18Under18 list in 2013 and the Forbes 30Under30 list thereafter. Matias authored the book Age is Only an Int and hosts the podcast 20MinuteLeaders.

Episoder(1165)

Ep5: Izhar Shay | Israeli Knesset, former VC

Ep5: Izhar Shay | Israeli Knesset, former VC

Prior to joining the Israeli Parliament, Shay was a high-tech entrepreneur, CEO of start-up companies, member in boards of directors, mentor for entrepreneurs and a social activist. He wrote a popular weekly column at Globes for 11 years, authored two books, and founded Israel’s largest digital community for entrepreneurs (“Start-Up Stadium”) with about 45 thousand members. Previously, Shay was a Managing General Partner with Canaan Partners Israel and was a board member with promising start-up companies, some of which reached significant ‘exit’ events.

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Ep4: Yasmin Lukatz | Executive Director of ICON

Ep4: Yasmin Lukatz | Executive Director of ICON

Yasmin Lukatz, MBA Stanford, Startup Investor and Philanthropist, is the Founder and Executive Director of ICON - Israel Collaboration network, helping Israeli entrepreneurs penetrate the US market by bridging Silicon Valley and Israel. ICON's members are VC Partners, Executives at Fortune 500 companies and Founders of rising-star startups. Yasmin only asks, is to pay it forward, and also pay it back by rallying the ICON community to support and mentor children in Israel's periphery.  Yasmin is also a respected startup investor, starring in the new season of the Israeli TV version of Shark Tank.

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Ep3: Alon Matas | Founder & President of BetterHelp

Ep3: Alon Matas | Founder & President of BetterHelp

BetterHelp is the world’s largest counseling service. They connect people facing life's challenges with a counselor from their network of licensed, accredited, and board-certified therapists. Each month, over 2,000,000 counseling messages, chats, voice calls, and video sessions are facilitated through BetterHelp’s secure website and mobile app!

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Ep1: Amir Shevat | Co-Founder and CPO, Reshuffle

Ep1: Amir Shevat | Co-Founder and CPO, Reshuffle

Amir is a co founder at reshuffle, early-stage investor, and an author. Previously, he led initiatives at companies such as Google, Slack, Amazon Twitch and Microsoft. Amir is an innovator at heart.

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Welcome to 20 Minute Leaders!

Welcome to 20 Minute Leaders!

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