people · May 22, 2026

Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora Says AI Will Not Reduce Need for Engineers

Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora stated on the New York Times Hard Fork podcast that AI productivity gains represent a fallacy for reducing headcount and that the company needs more engineers. Arora noted that AI increases technical capacity which Palo Alto Networks will use to address its long backlog of feature requests rather than cut staff. Palo Alto Networks increased its employee headcount by 959 in the first two quarters of fiscal 2026. Arora also discussed how models like Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5-Cyber are changing hiring for security specialists.