Your AI Agents Are Running Wild. Who’s Actually Controlling Them? | Jim Bugwadia, Co-Founder & CEO

About this episode

In this episode of Techie Talks with Kuldeep, host Kuldeep Singh sits down with Jim Bugwadia, Co-founder & CEO of Nirmata, Inc to explore AI governance, policy as code, and how Kyverno is evolving from Kubernetes policy enforcement to full-stack AI controls.Timestamps:0:00 – Teaser highlights1:19 – Meet the Guest1:39 – Jim's background: From Mumbai to Silicon Valley & telecom to cloud native2:49 – Staying hands-on as a founder3:19 – Why decoupling policy from applications matters in the age of AI4:03 – The OODA Loop: How decision-making frameworks apply to Kubernetes governance5:20 – Policy as code, Kyverno, and the enforcement + decision-making two-layer model6:38 – Why Nirmata, Inc chose Kubernetes CRDs (not DSLs) for Kyverno9:13 – CEL (Common Expressions Language) adoption in Kyverno for better performance12:44 – How Kyverno handles webhook latency, high throughput & large policy sets17:02 – Open source strength: Community, KubeCon & policy best practices17:44 – Nirmata's AI Controls: Governing LLM API calls, MCP requests & agent-to-agent calls18:31 – Risks in enterprise AI: Privacy, data leakage, token costs & productivity20:22 – Governance for AI engineering (LLMs as the new database layer)21:11 – Zero trust for AI agents: Covering all layers with Kyverno22:22 – AI governance latency: Why it's microseconds, not seconds24:04 – AI Controls as middleware: Caching, routing & lowering token costs26:27 – Balancing security guardrails without blocking developer productivity28:11 – Self-service exception management for developers30:25 – Security culture: Collaboration between dev and security teams31:00 – Rapid Fire Round31:32 – Language pick for next 5 years: Go/Golang32:44 – Top Kyverno configuration mistakes in production34:07 – Emerging CNCF projects to watch: Agent Substrate36:19 – Closing thoughts & where to try Kyverno and AI ControlsCONNECT WITH US 🌐YouTube Channel: @techietalkswithkuldeep WhatsApp Channel: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb7Q4JHAjPXUt8hBgm2TLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techietalkswithkuldeepFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574642927780Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techietalkswithkuldeepFollow Jim Bugwadia on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbugwadia/🔗 Learn more about Nirmata: https://nirmata.com🔗 Try Kyverno: https://kyverno.io#ai #technology #futureofwork #techpodcast #kubernetes #devops #llms #machinelearning #techietalkswithkuldeepkubernetes, kyverno, policyascode, aigovernance, devops, cloudnative, aicontrols, techietalkswithkuldeep, platformengineering, devsecops , llm , aiagents , mlops, kubernetessecurity, openSource , golangprogramming , infrastructureascode