The AI Graveyard: Why DSOs Are Burying Money in Unused Technology — and How to Stop It. Dental Cyber Watch Live Episode 3

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Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry 40 min 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed 1 month ago

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What is the purpose of Dental Cyber Watch Live and who are the guests on this episode?

Bill Neumann 0:12

Hey everyone. Welcome to Group Dentistry Now and the third episode of Dental Cyberwatch Live. We appreciate working with Black Talent Security. They have been uh a great partner and we've been doing the dental cyberwatch column now for two years and we've expanded it into a podcast format. Like I said, it's episode three. And uh we actually have with us Matt McGaugh who uh is joining us from Costa Rica. I said thank you, Matt. We we appreciate that. And of course, Gary Salman, who is the co-founder and CEO of Black Talent Security. Matt is founder of DSO Compass. And he also has a newer company that he's going to talk about. He's the co-founder and chief development officer of Relay. So Gary and Matt, I'm really interested in this conversation.

Bill Neumann 1:00

I just want to let the audience kind of know, I'm going to give you some highlights of the conversation. Conversation, then I want some some quick intros here. But we're going to talk about, and I feel like the this is more of a Halloween theme because we are going to talk about Shadow AI, the AI graveyard. We're going to talk about AI, GRC, then we'll talk a little bit about a concept called design backward and build forward. It's a strategy that I just learned about recently. But that's what we're going to talk about today and probably a whole host of other things. But Matt, maybe um, for the couple of folks that don't know you, you're you're pretty well known in the DSO space. Yeah, a little bit about your background and DSO Compass and your new organization, Relay.

Matthew McGaw 1:40

Absolutely. Yeah. So Gary and I took a picture in this resort, Los Catalinas, uh back at the destination DSO. What was that, February? Gary, I'd feel like March. Yeah. Yeah. So we're uh I'm here again and I'm I'm here for Gary whenever he needs anything. We we've known each other a while now, man. But yeah, I've been in the dental space gosh, since two thousand eight. So, you know, almost twenty years. Uh a lot of focus the last few on evaluation of technology and all things and the the new business that that Bill you mentioned is called Relay. I realize that the gap that existed in my, you know, support as, you know, a consultant of sorts is like the implementation in implementation side of things on the DSO.

Matthew McGaw 2:26

front. Like I I'd never been inside that room and I I've now have a partner that has been and Dave Salsa Choli. So the evaluation to implementation to scaling across, you know, mid-market practices, he he brings that. So we focus on making sure that vendors not only have a good plan in place to support that implementation, but also the DSOs have a good onboarding plan in place. to make sure that, you know, all things implementation are done well. And a part of that is kind of why Gary and I are probably all chatting today, is that once you implement those platforms, you really need to make sure that they're secure, that the that your cyber risks are lowered. So yeah, that that's definitely a part of my conversations with folks.

Matthew McGaw 3:09

So I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me guys.

Bill Neumann 3:12

Gary, and I don't know if you d r necessarily need to introduce yourself, but I'd I'd love to just maybe get an update on what Black Talent Security is up to. I know you've got a lot of new innovative solutions out there, so maybe we can focus on that.

Gary Salman 3:28

Yeah. We're really trying to move the needle as quickly as possible, especially around the AI front. Shortly we're gonna be rolling out some significant enhancements to our cybersecurity platform, Eagle Eye. Um so we AI enabled that back in November. Uh that was kind of our our initial rollout or phase one. Phase two should be rolling out here in a week or two. Um and that's really going to Enhance our AI capabilities. Um, so you'll actually be able to have conversations now with our dashboard and our platform. So if you're in charge of security for your organization, instead of clicking around on a dashboard and trying to find data, you can actually just ask uh the Eagle Eye bot and they'll come back with uh recommendations and information and and and look at data in very different ways than you can present it in graph.

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Chapters

8 chapters

1 What is the purpose of Dental Cyber Watch Live and who are the guests on this episode? 0:12–4:54 2 How is “Shadow AI” defined and why does it pose a compliance risk for DSOs? 4:54–10:58 3 What is the “AI Graveyard” and how do poor implementation and training waste DSO budgets? 10:58–15:32 4 How does the “design backward, build forward” framework help DSOs choose the right AI solutions? 15:32–20:44 5 What vendor‑due‑diligence questions should DSOs ask to avoid liability under HIPAA? 20:44–25:53 6 How can DSOs build AI tools securely with safeguards like data scrubbing, source annotation, and hallucination alerts? 25:53–30:54 7 What three immediate steps should a DSO take to audit AI usage, establish governance, and enforce security due‑diligence? 30:54–35:35 8 What is the upcoming Aura platform and how can listeners learn more or join future Destination DSO events? 35:35–39:45

Speakers

1 identified

Bill Neumann 7 min

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Topics in this episode

AI 2 ChatGPT 1 Claude 1 Gemini 1 Aura 1 HIPAA 1 OSHA 1 Relay 2 Bill Newman 1 Group Dentistry Now 1 Eagle Eye 2 shadow AI 1

Source

Recorded14 Jun 2026

Publishergroupdentistrynow.libsyn.com ↗

Transcriptspeaker-named · 100+ languages

Handlerec:18851992

Show notes

Welcome to the third episode of Group Dentistry Now & Black Talon Security's Dental Cyber Watch Live. As dental groups rush to adopt artificial intelligence, many are spending on tools no one uses and feeding patient data into platforms no one controls. The result is wasted budget, hidden liability, and growing security exposure. In this episode of Dental Cyber Watch Live, Bill Neumann (CEO, Group Dentistry Now) sat down with Gary Salman (Co-founder and CEO, Black Talon Security) and Matthew McGaw (founder, DSO Compass; co-founder, Relay) to unpack the promise and peril of AI in dentistry. The clear message for DSOs of every size: AI is transformative, but only when paired with governance, training, and due diligence. Here are the key takeaways. Shadow AI: The Risk You Can't See Shadow AI is the unmonitored use of large language models — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude — by employees without policy, oversight, or controls. Staff turn to these tools to work faster. The problem is that no one is watching what data goes in. Salman described the scope at a recent DSO event with roughly 20 leaders, representing practices from 10 to 200-plus locations. Most reported a mix of LLMs already in use across their teams. Few had standard operating procedures governing what could be entered. Fewer still had any technology to monitor that activity. The exposure is real. Information uploaded to a free model may be anonymized, but it can resurface when others ask similar questions. "When the product's free, you're the product. They're not doing you a favor." — Gary Salman, Black Talon Security For an organization handling protected health information, that is a compliance event waiting to happen. The fix doesn't require shutting AI down — it requires structure: enable privacy settings so platforms don't train on your data, write SOPs that define what can and cannot be entered, and train staff on why it matters. The AI Graveyard: Paying for Tools No One Uses The "AI graveyard" is where promising technology goes to die. It's the software a DSO bought with enthusiasm, then abandoned because of poor implementation, failed training, low adoption, or clunky integration — while the subscription keeps billing. McGaw pointed to two familiar culprits: "shiny object syndrome" and the "Hawaiian shirt guy effect," where a charismatic salesperson wins the room and the product never fits the problem. Neumann offered a grounded example. Some automations at Group Dentistry Now worked well. Others proved clunky and were better handled manually. A buried tool isn't just a wasted subscription. It drains training hours, erodes staff confidence in future rollouts, and makes the next investment harder to champion. The escape route is unglamorous but reliable: plan, implement, and train before you scale. Roll out to a small group, confirm adoption, refine the workflow, then expand. Design Backward, Build Forward The smartest framing of the conversation came from a concept Salman credited to Andy Farina of Destination DSO: design backward, build forward. Understand the problem you're solving first, then align products to it — never the reverse. Most purchasing runs backward. A leader sees an exciting tool, then invents a reason to need it. McGaw captured the trap: "Sometimes the problem that they think they have to solve isn't always the problem that is really the problem." Salman's advice for separating substance from hype was blunt: "Stay away from the shiny penny and buy the gold." Before any AI purchase, leaders should define the problem, set clear criteria for success, evaluate fit against those criteria, and only then buy. Vendor Due Diligence — and Who's Really Liable Many DSO leaders misunderstand a critical point: under HIPAA, breach liability sits with the healthcare entity — the DSO — not the software or technology provider. Assuming the vendor carries that risk is a dangerous shortcut. That makes cyber due diligence non-negotiable. Before signing with any AI vendor, ask: How do they access, store, and share data? Who, specifically, has access to it? What security measures protect it? Salman's larger point: security should be the first question in any technology evaluation, not the last. Too often it's raised only after the contract is signed and the data is already flowing. Building AI Securely The throughline of the discussion was AI governance, risk, and compliance treated as a foundation, not an afterthought. For organizations handling patient data, that distinction separates innovation from exposure. Leaders should expect real safeguards from any tool touching PHI: scrubbing confidential data like dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and patient health information on upload; annotating sources so answers can be traced; flagging possible hallucinations; and hashing files to protect their integrity. Pair those safeguards with disciplined implementation, and today's investment doesn't become tomorrow's graveyard occupant. Protecting What You've Built AI is a genuine opportunity for DSOs willing to pair ambition with discipline. The risk isn't the technology — it's deploying it without control. Three steps to start now: Audit current AI usage to learn which tools your team uses and what data flows into them. Establish AI governance and SOPs before the next tool goes live. Make vendor security due diligence standard, with security as the opening question. Is your DSO adopting AI faster than it can secure it? Get these fundamentals in place, and AI stops being a liability waiting to surface — and becomes the advantage it promised to be for your practice and your patients. Get the MAX Surgical Specialty Management Case Study: https://dso.pub/4v8OwfP

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