Tom Drake

Because guess where I had been when I was on another contract, when I was before Minstrel, I was in the AI, this is early, early, this is just part of my background. I was part of an AI department in this government contract office in the late, late 1989, summer, fall of 89. Really? Yes. Expert Systems Machine Learning. And who was developing this? This was GTE. It doesn't exist anymore. GTE?

It used to be one of the largest rural telephone payphone carriers, right? Rural. But they had a government operation. So, I blew the whistle on that program, long story short. But remember, I went and jumped back, but this gives you sort of the grounding of what I was confronted with already as a contractor before I even joined NSA as a senior executive. I went to...

It used to be one of the largest rural telephone payphone carriers, right? Rural. But they had a government operation. So, I blew the whistle on that program, long story short. But remember, I went and jumped back, but this gives you sort of the grounding of what I was confronted with already as a contractor before I even joined NSA as a senior executive. I went to...

It used to be one of the largest rural telephone payphone carriers, right? Rural. But they had a government operation. So, I blew the whistle on that program, long story short. But remember, I went and jumped back, but this gives you sort of the grounding of what I was confronted with already as a contractor before I even joined NSA as a senior executive. I went to...

We'll go into the details of how I blew the whistle. That's a story all by itself. But we're talking the 91 timeframe, I got kicked off the program. Okay. I was a test engineer, customer, special, basically, a specialist that I had, because I had the background, but at the time I was operating. And then later, I was actually part of the software engineering team. It was a voice processing system.

We'll go into the details of how I blew the whistle. That's a story all by itself. But we're talking the 91 timeframe, I got kicked off the program. Okay. I was a test engineer, customer, special, basically, a specialist that I had, because I had the background, but at the time I was operating. And then later, I was actually part of the software engineering team. It was a voice processing system.

We'll go into the details of how I blew the whistle. That's a story all by itself. But we're talking the 91 timeframe, I got kicked off the program. Okay. I was a test engineer, customer, special, basically, a specialist that I had, because I had the background, but at the time I was operating. And then later, I was actually part of the software engineering team. It was a voice processing system.

It was supposed to basically catapult NSA into the digital age when it came to voice processing, which was a space I worked on for years when I was overseas. So, they, in their infinite wisdom, they had issued this contract to GTE. I blow the whistle. NSA itself was getting antsy about it because years had gone by. Now it's six years in and where are we going to? Where's the delivery?

It was supposed to basically catapult NSA into the digital age when it came to voice processing, which was a space I worked on for years when I was overseas. So, they, in their infinite wisdom, they had issued this contract to GTE. I blow the whistle. NSA itself was getting antsy about it because years had gone by. Now it's six years in and where are we going to? Where's the delivery?

It was supposed to basically catapult NSA into the digital age when it came to voice processing, which was a space I worked on for years when I was overseas. So, they, in their infinite wisdom, they had issued this contract to GTE. I blow the whistle. NSA itself was getting antsy about it because years had gone by. Now it's six years in and where are we going to? Where's the delivery?

Where's the delivery? Where's the delivery?

Where's the delivery? Where's the delivery?

Where's the delivery? Where's the delivery?

No, but this is before that. I just happened to be there. I'm just saying this gives you – I mean, AI is huge now. That's a whole other conversation, AI, which I'm also playing with that myself even at home. It's stunning. Oh, yeah. But there are risks. There are issues. There is lots of – how do you hold AI accountable? What are its ethical obligations? Oh, wait a minute. AI?

No, but this is before that. I just happened to be there. I'm just saying this gives you – I mean, AI is huge now. That's a whole other conversation, AI, which I'm also playing with that myself even at home. It's stunning. Oh, yeah. But there are risks. There are issues. There is lots of – how do you hold AI accountable? What are its ethical obligations? Oh, wait a minute. AI?

No, but this is before that. I just happened to be there. I'm just saying this gives you – I mean, AI is huge now. That's a whole other conversation, AI, which I'm also playing with that myself even at home. It's stunning. Oh, yeah. But there are risks. There are issues. There is lots of – how do you hold AI accountable? What are its ethical obligations? Oh, wait a minute. AI?

Well, it's not actually – It could be artificial at best, but it's definitely not intelligent. I did a whole talk on this at my opening remarks in Berlin at a conference recently, back in late November, when I was invited to come to this conference. Here we are, so they actually had an investigation.

Well, it's not actually – It could be artificial at best, but it's definitely not intelligent. I did a whole talk on this at my opening remarks in Berlin at a conference recently, back in late November, when I was invited to come to this conference. Here we are, so they actually had an investigation.

Well, it's not actually – It could be artificial at best, but it's definitely not intelligent. I did a whole talk on this at my opening remarks in Berlin at a conference recently, back in late November, when I was invited to come to this conference. Here we are, so they actually had an investigation.

The general counsel comes out from Mountain View, that was their home office, it was Mountain View, California. He comes out, he does his own internal investigation, brings in all of us, a lot of us to interview. And I looked at him and I said, weren't we under, remember, you know my background, right? My background already, just the summary of it.