The continuous evolution of artificial intelligence will "spawn a wave of new AI-driven jobs," and "every new job created by AI will require a baseline of AI and cybersecurity literacy," said Karen Walker, CFO of Sysdig.

"There are many considerations around data security and the entire AI pipeline, so I think this presents a new challenge for companies and their workforce—namely, the need to have a certain level of AI and cybersecurity literacy," Walker said in an interview with CFO Dive.

From investment to empowerment

Walker noted that it is crucial for CFOs and their executive peers to closely monitor how the integration of AI into business may change operational approaches.

"Companies are undoubtedly trying to embrace this trend, but how do they proceed safely and ensure all use cases are secured?" she said, referring to how leadership thinks about integrating AI into workflows. This includes both carefully choosing which AI tools to invest in from an ever-expanding list, and crucially, ensuring employees have a baseline capability in using AI safely, she said.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Walker has served as the financial head of the San Francisco-based computer and cybersecurity company since 2021. Before joining Sysdig, she was CFO of mid-sized tech company Bungalow, and her previous roles include Senior Vice President of Finance at PagerDuty, as well as Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, and Treasurer at Pandora.

The need to develop effective and secure AI application strategies comes as the AI industry itself continues to expand. This brings more choices and fiercer competition for companies focused on the technology's potential.

For example, the intensifying "fear of missing out" on AI last year drove a wave of mergers and acquisitions. CFO Dive previously reported that the total value of U.S. AI-driven M&A deals in 2025 reached $107.9 billion—up 9.7% year-over-year and jumping 80% from 2022 levels.

The shovel sellers

Walker said the 2026 M&A landscape is "off to a strong start and shows all signs of continuing at the same pace."

"Many companies that have entered the market with point solutions, I think quite a few of them will have opportunities to be acquired," she said.

When it comes to AI companies, today's investors are somewhat conflicted, she said—the "growth at all costs" mandate that drove tech investment before the pandemic has eased in recent years, and the pendulum is partially swinging back toward a profitability focus.

Take AI giant OpenAI, for example, which completed its transition to a for-profit entity in October—giving Microsoft a 27% stake in the ChatGPT maker and retaining rights to its AI models through 2032—but still faces intense scrutiny from industry experts and leaders.

Walker believes that while AI technology is unlikely to fade in the short term, the question of how best to structure AI companies' business models remains unresolved. As a result, today's investors "are looking more carefully at fundamentals, but perhaps not applying the same standards as they would to other industries," Walker said. They focus on what exactly makes the technology of AI-first companies competitive: if it's "just a shell around a chatbot," or if the company currently lacks its own intellectual property or differentiated data, then it's not attractive to investors, she said.

Walker observed that investors are flocking to companies building AI infrastructure.

"I like to compare them to—if we're in a gold rush, these are the people making the shovels and picks," she said. "They don't have to bet on which large language model will be the winner, or how market share will be distributed."