Executive titles change all the time, especially in tech, as responsibilities and capabilities expand. CTOs became CIOs, then CISOs were added, and some businesses added CAIOs a couple of years ago. A company’s executive titles reflect its changing priorities and plans.Benjamin Spiegel has held a variety of positions throughout his career at tech firms, large consumer companies, NGOs and private equity firms. Last April, he began working at recycled patio furniture maker Polywood with a familiar title: CIO. This April, the company changed his title to chief digital officer, giving him responsibilities more based on the human connection to technology. I talked to him about this new title and how it is both similar to and different from a CIO. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.Until next time.This is the published version of Forbes’ CIO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief innovation officers and other technology-focused leaders. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every Thursday.Artificial IntelligenceSamuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesThe Trump administration lifted its restrictions on Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 on Wednesday after the systems had been offline for more than two weeks. Citing national security concerns, foreign nationals were abruptly banned access to the systems last month—so Anthropic took them both down. The two systems are Anthropic’s most advanced models. Mythos, which is adept at finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities, was initially available only to government agencies, large companies and critical infrastructure providers due to the myriad weaknesses it exposed. Anthropic called Fable a "Mythos-class" model with restrictions on queries related to cybersecurity, biology and chemistry.So why were the systems restricted? Anthropic explained in a blog post the government had been made aware of a way that Amazon researchers were able to bypass Fable 5’s safety mechanisms and identify software vulnerabilities, even getting Fable 5 to demonstrate how a vulnerability could be exploited. Anthropic, working closely with the federal government, improved Fable’s safety classifications around the flaw Amazon had found, which is now blocked in more than 99% of cases—and will return non-helpful information to attackers the rest of the time. Anthropic wrote that researchers from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation tested all safeguards developed for the models, and agrees they are strong.Federal regulations around AI are currently not very stringent. An executive order Trump signed last month asks AI companies to voluntarily participate in a 30-day government review process before public release of new models to assess “advanced cyber capabilities” and determine whether they are a “covered frontier model,” but the specifics of what this means are unclear. In its blog post, Anthropic said it’s been working closely with the federal government under the executive order, and is building on two years of pre-deployment government evaluation of its models. Anthropic committed to continue working with the government in terms of its most recent framework. It pledged to share threat assessments and have staff working alongside government regulators where needed.CybersecurityHow is national security—the kind defended by nuclear submarines—like cybersecurity? At the AWS Summit in Washington, D.C., this week, Amazon Chief Security Officer Stephen Schmidt and the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration Brandon Williams, shared how their backgrounds and experience inform their security outlook.Williams, talking about the federal government’s Genesis Mission—an effort to unify government data so AI can make breakthroughs in energy, science and security—explained why it’s so important: The pace of AI is like a rushing river, and data silos will be in trouble. Schmidt added that AI has quickened the pace of security testing, moving from weeks to 15 minutes.“People have this misconception that AI has dramatically changed the attacker landscape and it’s enabling things that could never be done before,” Schmidt said. “Not really. What it’s doing is it’s making attackers more efficient at what they’re doing.”Amazon has adapted by bringing more agents into the loop—checking, rechecking and supervising the checks on security actions, which Schmidt said works extremely well. But the speed at which AI allows people to act will continue to accelerate the cybersecurity work that needs to be done. Schmidt recommended that CISOs work to master quick patch deployments at scale, which he said would be the biggest upcoming cybersecurity challenge.Williams, a former congressman, reiterated that cybersecurity is an issue everyone needs to address.“These are not political issues. It’s not simply procurement issues. It’s not simply messaging,” he said. “There are deep and profound technical decisions that we have to make.”Bits + BytesWhy Polywood Transformed Its CIO Into A CDOPolywood Chief Digital Officer Benjamin Spiegel.PolywoodIn April 2025, recycled outdoor furniture company Polywood hired Benjamin Spiegel as its CIO. A year later, his title changed to chief digital officer—a new job that still works with technology, but a bit different from a traditional CIO role. I talked to him about his new job, its differences and similarities to a CIO, and what the new role can do in the age of AI. This interview has been edited for length, clarity and continuity.What is the difference between CIO and CDO?Spiegel: The CIO really is more functional with the systems. What are the capabilities, the systems, the tools, the hardware, the software that people need to do their jobs? But that really doesn’t encapsulate the people themselves. Today, if we think of digital and we think of innovation, it’s the systems and the people. We can put all the AI into the system, but if we don’t teach the people how to use it, incentivize them and change the way they work, it’s going to have no impact. The main difference is really the inclusion of people versus just the systems.What made you want to take on a role that was still tech, but more people focused?For me, enabling technologies these days is easier. It‘s not like it was 10 years ago, when you needed systems integrators and advanced capabilities. These days, it’s fairly easy to implement software and hardware. But what I have seen a lot is people don’t use AI and don't know how to use it. And more importantly, if you don’t change the process, it’s not going to happen. I wanted to make sure I have influence on the people and the systems.I understand you and your team spent some time in the factory with the workers to help improve their use of technology.We realized a lot of our technology leaders don’t really understand deeply what we do on the floor. I rolled out a program where every new leader in the organization, including creative, has to spend two weeks on the floor working on each part of our process—from extrusion to manufacturing our screws, to creating the lumber, to assembling the furniture and shipping. People tend to create their own systems. We found mountains of Google Sheets that people were using internally. Nobody ever went to the IT office and said, ‘Hey, I need a solution.’ We identified where we can learn from what they’re doing, then also help them automate it. Nobody wants to go and say, ‘Hey leadership, help me make my job better. I think I’m not good at it.’ We found a lot of areas for improvements that were obvious, but nobody ever wanted to say, ‘I don’t think we are fast enough,’ or, ‘We could be doing this better.’ We identified a lot of operational process flow.The third [goal this achieved] was us understanding how things are being used. My leadership team better understands how people are using technology, and where there is a gap in using it because the people never knew solutions were possible.What kind of business should be prioritizing these functions with a chief digital officer?There are 50 different answers. My CDO job at P&G was very different than the one here. In my past roles, it was: How do I connect data and creative? Here, it is: ‘How do I connect data intelligence, creativity and product and our processes?’ The CDO is really about connecting internal, separated departments by the one thing everything has in common, which is digital. Everything is digitally connected and it’s the ideal seat to drive innovation.What advice do you have for a CIO who wants somebody to do more of this human work with AI?Talk to your employees. You probably have four power users within your organization that you’re not expecting, who spend half their day doing stuff with AI. When I think about my AI lead team, half of them I would have never expected to do that, but they have a side hustle using AI.Wait to make a decision on one AI company or another. Right now, we’re using five different AI providers for very different jobs and projects. Some are really good at one thing, some are good at another. The reality is you’ve got to use a mix to achieve the best outcomes for now.Comings + GoingsObservability and IT management software provider SolarWinds appointed Justin Henkel as its chief information security officer. Henkel joins the company from OneTrust, where he most recently worked as deputy chief information security officer.Digital workforce security provider KnowBe4 promoted Alex Callihan to its chief technology officer role. Callihan began with the firm more than nine years ago, and most recently worked as senior vice president of engineering. He succeeds Mark Patton.Consulting and analytics firm Trinity Life Sciences tapped Colin Boatwright as its first chief information officer. Boatwright joins the firm from UPS Healthcare Precision Logistics (formerly Marken), where he led global IT, business intelligence, and cybersecurity.Strategies + AdviceAs AI proliferates, malware is no longer the biggest threat to your system, according to CrowdStrike’s 2026 Global Threat Report. Now, it’s prompt injection attacks. Top AI developers say it may be impossible to build a model that is prompt-injection resistant, but you can build around the threat. Here’s what you need to know—and how to recognize where you’re most at risk.Tech leaders can be sought-after public speakers. And yes, even an introverted technocrat can be an incredible speaker—as long as they can master speaking about technical things in language an audience can understand. Here are 12 tips for tech leaders to become effective speakers.QuizA tech CEO gave a heated and somewhat unhinged interview on CNBC this week, with some calling it a “televised nervous breakdown.” Who was it?A. Alex KarpB. Mark ZuckerbergC. Lip-Bu TanD. Sam AltmanSee if you got the answer right here.