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The Non-Human & AI Identity Podcast
- By Humans for Humans, No AI-Generated Content.
- Mr. NHI hosts the voices shaping the future of Non-Human & Agentic AI Identity.
Hosted by Mr. NHI, the podcast brings together the voices actively shaping the future of Non-Human Identity (NHI) and Agentic AI Identity, from founders and practitioners to security leaders dealing with these challenges in the real world.
AI agents are requesting access at machine speed, chaining MCP tool calls across ten or more applications and spawning sub-agents. Access policies built for humans waiting on approval tickets can’t keep pace.
Sameer Mehta, Chief Product Officer at Opal Security and former product leader at Veza, joins Lalit Choda (Mr. NHI) on the Non-Human and AI Identity Podcast. He explains why policy enforcement for AI agents needs a new model. That model treats agents as mission-driven software with no conscience, combines fixed rules with AI-driven decisions, and stops granting standing access based on “vibes.”
What you’ll learn:
- Why identity security doesn’t need to be thrown away for agentic AI: the problems are the same, but the scale and attack surface have changed
- How standing access piles up in production through judgment-call approvals, and why it goes unnoticed
- Why AI agent security and NHI security share ownership challenges but are not the same thing
- Why one-size-fits-all access policy breaks for agents, and how to set policy by identity type, resource sensitivity and agent lifespan
- How to combine fixed rules and custom instructions with AI-driven access decisions so outcomes stay predictable
- How agent manifests reveal off-purpose agents that stray beyond their declared MCP tool call chain
- How to evolve policy from access-decision data: move routine requests to birthright access or auto-approval, and keep humans in the loop for privileged resources and break-glass accounts
NHI Foundation Level Training
If you work with AI agents, cloud services, APIs, or CI/CD pipelines, securing Non-Human Identities is essential. Take the most comprehensive and only accredited NHI training program in the industry and learn how to manage and secure NHIs, including AI agents.
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Key Moments
- Introduction & Meet Sameer [00:00–03:15]
- Mr. NHI’s Human Identity in the Hot Seat [03:15–19:36]
- What Security Teams Are Asking About AI Agents [19:36–24:16]
- Is Agent Risk Exposing the Wider NHI Problem? [24:16–25:52]
- Why Human-Era Access Policy Breaks for Agents [25:52–28:44]
- Building a Policy Model for Agents: Paladin & Policy as Code [28:44–32:32]
- Policy as Code vs Non-Deterministic Agents [32:32–36:43]
- Real-World Example: Custom Instructions & Human-in-the-Loop [36:43–40:00]
- From Humans to Agents: How Paladin & Opal 0 Evolved [40:00–45:01]
- Agent Manifests & Detecting Off-Purpose Agents [45:01–47:12]
- Upfront Policy vs Learned Policy [47:12–50:30]
- Advice for Security Leaders: Start, Measure, Iterate [50:30–51:50]
- Learn More About Opal & Closing [51:50–53:31]