Clarity – a company that enables organizations to rapidly identify and immunize from Deepfakes and synthetic media created by generative AI – announced a partnership with Walden Catalyst and Bessemer Ventures Partners. This additional funding will enable the company to double down on core research efforts while providing best-in-class solutions to the most critical infrastructure in society.
Deepfakes are considered an unprecedented threat to society, and estimates show that 90% of online content will be AI-generated by 2026. As the tools needed to create deepfakes are now widely accessible, the risks are distributed broadly across all domains; without intervention, the future will be one of unstoppable financial fraud, political election manipulation, a destabilized judicial system, sophisticated spear phishing, and more.
Clarity is working with some of the largest news organizations to verify their media, is working with the government of Israel, and recently partnered with Kaltura to verify and authenticate sensitive footage and testimonials from the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.
This is the background of the founding team:
Michael Matias, CEO: Matias served as an Officer (was first-in-class) at 8200 (received the Cyber Excellence Award for 2019) and founded two AI teams that received the National Defense Prize. Matias then studied AI at Stanford University and led AI teams at Hippo Insurance. He is an angel investor in more than 70 deep-tech startups, and was on the investment team for multiple VCs, including Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. He is the founder and host of a technology leadership podcast (20MinuteLeaders) with 1000+ episodes and authored 150+ articles in a leading Israeli financial newspaper.
Natalie Fridman, CTO: Fridman has over 10 years of management experience in AI and research, with expertise in collective intelligence, deep learning, and modeling autonomous agents. Fridman was previously the Senior VP of R&D (from inception to IPO) at ImageSat International and has a Ph.D. in AI and Collective Intelligence. She has published over 25 papers, was a leading computer science lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and has multiple patents in AI algorithms.
Gil Avriel, CSO and COO: Avriel is a former Senior Executive in the Israel’s National Security Council, Office of the Prime Ministers. (14 years). Advised 8 National Security Advisers and 4 Prime Ministers on strategic national security issues while serving as the Legal Advisor to the NSC. Led complex multi-party negotiations on behalf of the Israeli government on complex national security issues. Served in the 8200 intelligence corps. Graduated from Harvard Kennedy School and Georgetown Law School (first-in-class).
KEY QUOTES:
“Our digital lives are under attack by shockingly accurate representations of people saying things they never said, and doing things they never did; we are just at the beginning of the invasion of deceit. These capital infusions and ongoing partnership with Walden Catalyst and Bessemer means that we an accelerate our R&D and market growth, both essential toour mission of preserving trust in the digital world.”
- Michael Matias, co-founder and CEO of Clarity, previously studied AI at Stanford, Officer at the 8200 Cyber Unit and recipient of the Goldman Sachs 2023 Builders and Innovators Award
“Clarity’s technology enables organizations and intelligence agencies to fight what is now a very real threat to every business. The Clarity team, which includes some of the most experienced cybersecurity and intelligence professionals in the industry, is on a mission to preserve trust in digital media by building cutting-edge technology to detect AI manipulations.”
- Amit Karp, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners
“Today, every news and media company is being exposed to deepfake content that is intended to change public perception. It is imperative that organizations protect themselves from these advanced social engineering and phishing scams,” said Udi Mokay, Founder and Chairman of CyberArk and also an angel investor. Dr. Shay David, Co-Founder of enterprise video provider Kaltura adds, “Organizations must immediately adopt new media filtering mechanisms. Deepfakes might be found anywhere within the organization.”
- Chris Marlin, former Head of Strategy for CNN, who is also an angel investor
“The proliferation of generative AI-produced content and deepfakes has the potential to create even greater voter distrust. Clarity’s technology will clear the fog of uncertainty and provide better clarity for voters and political leaders alike.”
- Larry Diamond, Professor by courtesy of Sociology and Political Science at Stanford University
“Existing authentication mechanism and woefully inadequate when it comes to identifying and purging deep of fakes. These new social engineering and phishing attacks and getting better by the hour. We are excited to partner with Clarity and provide a scalable and trusted platform which organizations can use to verify sensitive media, prevent fraud and create an AI-safe environment.”
- Roni Hefetz, a partner at Walden Catalyst
