In this episode of the Innovator Series, we speak with Kevin Tian of Doppel, the Silicon Valley startup who is on a self-proclaimed “mission to protect humanity from adaptive, AI-assisted social engineering.” Tian covers his early career and the motivations that led him to found the perfectly timed response to the wave of AI-powered deepfakes.
Defense Against Social Engineering In The Age Of AI
Until fairly recently, the idea that brands and personalities needed some type of protection against social engineering attacks perpetrated by deepfakes seemed something safely relegated to science fiction. But the last two years of high-profile AI advancements and a building tidal wave of very convincing LLM-powered voice and visual likeness deep-faking has shown that the time is right for something equally powerful to run defense.
A former software developer at Uber, Tian saw the writing on the wall and together with co-founder Rahul Madduluri, also from Uber, formed Doppel—the name being a play on the apt German word “doppelgänger,” which literally translates as “double walker” and is used colloquially to describe another unrelated person who looks just like you.
Today, Doppel is making a push to provide AI-powered defense against AI-powered imposters and those who would use these tools to co-opt or spoof your likeness as a means to socially engineer their way inside the walls of vulnerable organizations.
From Doppel: “We’re building mission-critical software to meet the adversaries where they are. Our first product is the modern digital risk protection and threat intel platform for trusted brands. We believe that AI-native systems are fundamentally required to fight AI-powered threats.”
Our Innovator Series is meant to get inside the mind of the founder, and learn what inspired and motivated them to find success in the cybersecurity industry. Learn more about Kevin Tian and Doppel in our 12 minute conversation on YouTube.