Podcast Summary:

Bloomberg Talks – Okta CEO Talks AWS Outages, Growing AI Threats
Date: October 20, 2025
Host: Bloomberg
Guest: Todd McKinnon (CEO, Okta)

Main Theme

This episode centers on the crucial role of identity management in today’s rapidly evolving cloud and AI landscape, highlighted by recent AWS outages and the proliferation of AI-enabled threats. Okta CEO Todd McKinnon discusses how his company addresses reliability, security, and adaptability for organizations navigating a surging demand for cloud and AI-driven services.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Impact of AWS Outages and Reliability in Cloud Services

• AWS Outage Context: The episode opens by referencing a significant AWS outage, underscoring the vulnerability and importance of critical cloud infrastructure.
• Okta’s Perspective on Reliability:
  • McKinnon asserts Okta’s focus on being the “identity infrastructure” for enterprises, consumers, and AI agents:

    "We're building this identity service for the entire world, whether that's enterprises, consumers, or people building agents. We want to be that identity infrastructure." (00:54, Todd McKinnon)

  • Building Reliability:
    • Implementation of redundancy, extensive backups, and constant monitoring form Okta’s bedrock for reliability.

      "A lot of redundancy, and a lot of focus and a lot of making sure we do exactly what customers expect, whether it's backups, redundancy and monitoring it continuously." (01:21, Todd McKinnon)

2. Okta’s Growth & Global Workforce

• Rapid Expansion:
  • Okta now employs 6,000 people globally, with 800 in San Francisco, reflecting the company's robust growth.

    "6,000 global employees doing a great job for our customers every day." (01:37, Todd McKinnon)

3. Okta’s Unique Security Pitch

• Identity-Centric Focus:
  • In contrast with vendors offering broad stack security, Okta zeroes in on identity verification – ensuring every user, be it employee, customer, or AI agent, is securely managed.

    "We focus on identity... And now really with AI agents, we make sure that that identity service is continuous across everything you're trying to automate in your business with AI, too." (01:49, Todd McKinnon)

  • Interoperability: The platform connects to all other tech stack parts, ensuring flexibility for customers.

4. The AI Agent Surge & Security Considerations

• Trends & Future Growth:
  • Okta anticipates significant expansion in AI agents within the next year, seeing it as transformative for business efficiency and cost.

    "It's starting out very strong but it's going to be growing significantly... how they can improve their top line revenue, how they can cut costs, how they can be more efficient, how they can serve their customers better, it's got tremendous potential." (02:32, Todd McKinnon)

• AI-Driven Identity Needs:
  • Widespread deployment of AI solutions (e.g., chatbots) fuels the requirement for secure, reliable identity services as automation takes front seat.

    "When every company looks at [ChatGPT], they think, hey, we can make our customer experience better... it's really driving them to deploy, deploy, deploy more technology and that means more identity is required." (02:57, Todd McKinnon)

5. The “Land Grab” in AI Identity

• Competitive Landscape:
  • McKinnon positions identity management as essential to the broader AI agent revolution, giving customers choice and adaptability.

    "It's really important that everyone understands how important identity management is to rolling [out] AI and agents." (03:32, Todd McKinnon)

  • Okta’s Core Value:
    • Allowing customers freedom to adapt backend platforms without sacrificing governance or security.

6. Industry Consolidation & Ecosystem Strategy

• Reactions to Rival Partnerships (Google-Wiz-Palo Alto-CyberArk):
  • Okta’s philosophy objects to the industry trend of vertical cybersecurity consolidation, instead advocating for best-of-breed, interoperable identity platforms.

    "We think the right approach is to consolidate on identity because it preserves the choice of other cyber tools for customers. They're not locked into one endpoint tool or one network security tool." (04:14, Todd McKinnon)

  • Customers benefit from cost reduction, standardization, and the freedom to choose top solutions as threats evolve.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the AWS Outage:

  "Cloud infrastructure is one critical service... It’s important for cybersecurity, it's important for business continuity and it has to be reliable." (00:54, Todd McKinnon)

• On Okta’s Identity-First Approach:

  "We focus on verifying who the people are in your company, who the people are coming to your website as customers or prospects. And now really with AI agents we make sure that that identity service is continuous across everything you're trying to automate." (01:49, Todd McKinnon)

• On what Sets Okta Apart in a Competitive Field:

  "We give our customers the ability to make sure they have security, governance and visibility and then let them choose the rapidly evolving platforms behind the scenes to whatever fits their needs." (03:43, Todd McKinnon)

• On Industry Consolidation:

  "The ability to choose the best cyber tool and not be locked into a stack from one monolithic vendor is very powerful and it's resonating with our customers." (04:14, Todd McKinnon)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:18] — AWS Outage Context and Okta’s Response
• [01:21] — Ensuring Reliability in Identity Services
• [01:49] — Okta’s Core Focus & Differentiator
• [02:32] — Anticipated Growth in AI Agents
• [02:57] — ChatGPT, AI Growth, and Identity Demands
• [03:32] — The Crucial “Land Grab” for AI Identity
• [04:14] — Okta’s View on Industry Consolidation

Conclusion

The episode paints a compelling portrait of how identity management is evolving into a pivotal lever for organizational security and innovation, especially as companies race to integrate AI and weather the volatility of cloud platforms like AWS. McKinnon makes a clear case for Okta's differentiated approach—centering on identity, providing choice, and prioritizing reliability in an ever-shifting technology landscape.