Kurtz likens the kill switch to airbags, saying safeguards are needed even when AI is designed to work correctly, and agents breaching guardrails can be killed at runtime.
"If they go outside of those guardrails at runtime, we can kill those agents," he said.
All statements by George Kurtz ›
Kurtz says rapid global AI adoption is widening the attack surface that security must defend.
The world's adoption of AI is rapidly expanding the attack surface
George Kurtz argues that AI safety is what unlocks AI's full benefits, and that deploying agents with a kill switch keeps organizations in control.
“AI safety is how you get the full benefit of AI,” said CEO George Kurtz in a press release. “When you deploy agents with a kill switch, you stay in control.”
George Kurtz said every company is asking whether AI agents can be stopped, and that CrowdStrike's AI kill switch now makes the answer yes.
Every company is asking the same question about AI agents: can they be stopped? Now the answer is yes,
Kurtz says CrowdStrike's AI kill switch gives AI agents the off button they lacked and will be a crucial part of running agents safely.
"Everyone is building AI agents, but they never had the off button, and now they do," Kurtz told CNBC's Jim Cramer on "Mad Money." "It's going to be an incredibly important part of making sure that AI agents run and operate safely."
Kurtz sees securing AI agents as a massive market opportunity, combining external breach prevention with controls on agent behavior.
"Enabling agents to work safely is a massive market opportunity for CrowdStrike," Kurtz said. "We have AI capabilities to prevent these breaches from happening on the outside, and we also have the capabilities to make sure that agents are basically doing what they are instructed to do."