Circuit Breaker Labs: The Last Line of Defense Before AI Hurts Someone with Arul Nigam

A chatbot told a teenager how to die.

That is the problem Arul and Shirali Nigam set out to fix.

In this episode, meet the co-founder of Circuit Breaker Labs, a startup backed by A16Z Speedrun that stress-tests AI before it ever reaches a real person.

They call it the crash test dummy for AI. Their team runs thousands of fake conversations to find the moment a chatbot breaks. Then they patch it before someone gets hurt.

✅ What you'll learn:

• Why AI guardrails pass the easy test and fail on real people
• The "grading your own homework" flaw in how most companies score AI safety
• How a homemade flyer at a conference turned into a major contract
• Why safety becomes the next big moat, the way cybersecurity did
• How the US can move fast on AI and stay safe at the same time

🎧 Hosted by Shane Ray Martin, venture investor at B Ventures, CEO of the PeaceTech Accelerator, former startup founder, LinkedIn Top Voice in Negotiation, and certified peace mediator helping founders scale technology and peace.