Zscaler CEO Warns Companies Not to Trust AI Agents

TLDR

• Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry warns companies against giving AI agents too much trust on their networks.
• Chaudhry says AI agents could become more dangerous than human users because they work nonstop.
• Zscaler reaffirmed its fiscal 2027 revenue guidance during its first Investor Day since 2021.
• The company expects revenue growth to slow compared to fiscal 2026.
• Chaudhry says Zscaler works as a neutral switchboard rather than a direct competitor to hyperscalers like Nvidia and Amazon.

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Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry is urging companies to be careful with AI agents. He says many organizations are giving these programs too much freedom inside their networks.

Chaudhry made the comments during an interview with Yahoo Finance. He said agents should only be trusted for specific tasks, not given broad access.

He compared agents to visitors inside a building. Once inside a corporate network, he said, they can move freely and scan for weaknesses.

Chaudhry explained that advanced AI models can find security flaws in websites, firewalls, VPNs, and load balancers. Once they find a weak spot, they can break in.

A recent Deloitte survey supports his concerns. It found that about 80% of organizations lack strong governance systems for agentic AI.

Those gaps include unclear rules for what agents can decide on their own. Many companies also lack real time monitoring and audit trails for agent actions.

Without these controls, Chaudhry said, agents can expose private data or cause system failures. He added that agents never take breaks, so risks can build around the clock.

Chaudhry shared these warnings ahead of Zscaler’s Investor Day. It was the company’s first investor event since 2021.

Zscaler Reaffirms Fiscal 2027 Guidance

During the event, Zscaler reaffirmed its guidance for fiscal 2027. The company expects revenue between $3.91 billion and $3.94 billion.

That range represents growth of about 16.6% to 17.5%. It is slower than the 25% growth Zscaler reported in fiscal 2026.

For the first quarter, Zscaler expects revenue between $935 million and $939 million. That would mark close to 19% growth from a year earlier.

The company also expects non GAAP earnings per share near $1.15 to $1.16 for the quarter. Shares of Zscaler traded higher in premarket trading after the update.

Chaudhry on Competition and AI Security Demand

Chaudhry was asked whether companies like Nvidia and Amazon have become bigger competitors. He said the answer is both yes and no.

He said hyperscalers are “destinations” for data and workloads. He argued that companies still need a neutral third party like Zscaler to manage who can access what.

Chaudhry said more than half of Fortune 500 companies already use Zscaler’s services. He added that demand for AI security tools remains strong as more companies adopt AI.

He pushed back on the idea that AI could make traditional cybersecurity firms obsolete. He called those fears overblown, saying cyber defenses still need to catch up with how fast AI models are improving.