Why the U.S. Locked Down Fable and Mythos: AI, National Security, and the Workforce Squeeze

Harness

Jul 14, 2026

The U.S. just barred foreign nationals from accessing two advanced AI models — Fable and Mythos — citing national security. Around the same time, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance warned that AI-enabled cyberattacks are "months, not years" away. In Season 5 of ShipTalk, host Adam and co-host Martin dig into whether that warning is already overdue — and what it means for the people actually defending software.

They're joined by Assaf, a longtime security leader (and Adam's former boss) and author of Lessons from the Front Line: Insights from a Cybersecurity Career. The conversation moves from the headlines to the harder truth underneath them: AI adoption is climbing, yet more than half of security and IT workers are considering leaving their jobs — burned out, under-resourced, and worried AI is coming for their roles. Assaf's take is contrarian and sharp: the real failure isn't AI, it's leadership translation and a training pipeline we're quietly demolishing. As Adam puts it, "this is not a security problem, it's an engineering problem."

A candid, news-driven look at AI, national security, and the security workforce squeeze — and a surprisingly optimistic read on where it all goes next.

ShipTalk, AI security, cybersecurity, Five Eyes, AI national security, Fable, Mythos, security workforce, ISSA, software delivery, DevOps, AI jobs, CISO.

Assaf Karen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/assafkeren/
Adam Arellano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamrossarellano/
Martin Reynolds: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinreynolds/

0:00 Cold Open: AI Cyberattacks Aren't Months Away — "We're Already There"

0:53 Welcome to ShipTalk: Today's Two Headlines

1:35 Are We Already Using AI Without Realizing It?

2:41 Five Eyes Warns AI Cyberattacks Are "Months, Not Years" Away

4:31 Harness by the Numbers: Half of Security Pros Want to Quit

5:25 Meet the Guest: Assaf Keren (ex-PayPal & Qualtrics CSO)

6:14 "Secure by Design, But For Real This Time"

8:46 The ISSA Survey: Why Security Jobs Keep Getting Harder

10:01 The "Triple Whammy" Burning Out Security Teams

11:49 Have We Been Here Before? Cloud & the Changing SOC Role

13:32 The Contrarian Take: AI Could Make Security Better