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Here we go!

Shayla: Welcome to Tech Interruption, where we break up your normal day’s routine.

William: Join us as we unpack five industry disruptors in just ten minutes.

Shayla: It is the ultimate tech talk challenge.

Shayla: My name is Shayla Treadwell. I’m the Vice President of Governance, Risk, and Compliance. Outside of all the compliance stuff I do, I get an opportunity to look at AI-governance and try to build out Information Security programs.

William: And I’m Bill Rankin, Director of Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance. Aside from working alongside Shayla Treadwell, I get to help ECS and our customers on their journey to the path of righteousness.

Shayla: Hallelujah! Now on to our first topic, GPT advancements.

William: Yeah, there was some big news coming out of the Worldwide Development Conference that ChatGPT is going to be integrated with Siri, now.

Shayla: Really?! That’s very interesting considering where Microsoft was, which had GPT. They started this whole thing.

William: Yeah, that is interesting. You know, and it’s integration into their different platforms like the Surface platform for Microsoft. And now it’s going to be integrated into the different IOS’s for Apple.

You know, I have some challenges as to whether or not I want to use that service all the time, what controls I have over it, you know, but…the story comes to mind of, you know, somebody using it and depending on the way they speak and their dialect and their dictation, you know, this is now in the hands even more-so of the general population. Are people going to get responses back and get the results back that they want if they don’t say things clearly and concisely to these services?

Shayla: But, you know, the thing that we really have to think about is if we don’t use these services, we won’t be able to train them the right way. You got to think about this is the expansion of the way that we use things, so…we’re constantly training things, but that does mean that it has personal information. But everybody’s information is already lost and on the black market already, anyhow.

William: You know, that is one way of looking at it. But, you know…now do you have to educate everybody to understand that if you say, “Hey, Siri! I take this amount of medication and now I need to make sure that this stuff doesn’t conflict with each other. And I also need you to set up reminders for me to take my medication on a daily basis.”

Now, Siri has some form of health information about you. What happens to that information I give it to Siri. Where does it go? Who controls it? Who makes sure that the fact that I take X-amount of medication is not known by somebody who’s not supposed to know it.

Shayla: But is that no different than a Google search? Like, I mean, you can’t tell me in the middle of the night, you’re not like, “my stomach hurts and my left toe tingles,” like…I mean, they already know this stuff about you.

William: Yeah, you know, but I think the scary part is that it puts it more in a central location and large quantities of this information, especially if it’s simply available at your fingertips on your phone. And you can use the AI-provided prompts that maybe has information that you don’t or shouldn’t be in there. And it’s just right there. And now it’s, you know, stored wherever they store that learning data.

Shayla: Well, let’s see what ends up happening.

William: All right folks, up next we have the IRA regulation or the Inflation Reduction Act.

Shayla: Oh my gosh! What can I say about this Act? I feel that this act has everything but the kitchen sink in it. I mean, we’re talking about emissions and global “going green” things and we’re talking about Medicare, Medicaid…What’s the actual focus? Is anything going to actually get done?

William: Yeah, you know I know it is the Neapolitan ice cream of Acts, but you know, at least having a base or a jumping off point for some of these things I think is really important. You know… I’d like to focus maybe on some of the emission stuff that’s in there. You know, I know a lot of companies, a lot of people act with good intention, but until you have a regulation out there that really starts to impose this stuff on people, it’s really going to be hard to see movement in that direction.

Shayla: But I think that’s the difficult part about it. I mean, when we start to think about the Western world and coal production and how we mine and things of that nature, even though it’s not, it seems like it’s a start-stall for them and they’re a little bit lost. And I don’t know if we were doing enough education to help people understand that we do have to make a shift. Are we even ready to do more solar, to do more water, to do more…you know… wind! Is it even possible for folks?

William: Yeah… You know, the only thing I can hope is that the timeframe that’s imposed on this for companies to be zero-emission by 2030… 2050 timeframe I can’t recall exactly what day off the top of my head, hopefully that gives enough time to support these industries that may be really heavily impacted by this regulation, because you don’t want to see anybody, have an inability to work or earn for themselves because of some regulation that’s meant to do good for the overall world and meant you know, mainly for the humans on the Earth. You know, we talk about, you know, wanting to save the earth. It’s really about saving our species in ourselves and the ecosystem that we need to live and survive in this world. But you don’t want to see people get left behind or be lessened by a regulation like this. I guess only time will tell.

Shayla: Yeah.

William: All right, now on to the debate of debates! Vinegar or tomato barbecue sauce?

Now, listen…Because we’re friendly and because you’re my boss and because we have to work together…I will yield the floor to you to give your opinion on which sauce you think is best, and I kinda know what it is… but don’t be surprised if I don’t interrupt you like a politician in heat.

Shayla: Oh my gosh, Bill! So!! I… love… vinegar. Vinegar is where it’s at.

William: I know…

Shayla: That’s where it started. It’s about the pork. It’s delicious. It’s insane…It’s just… oh, it’s so good! You got a little bit of that heat, a little bit of that tang. I think vinegar is where it’s at.

William: You know, so I honestly, I’m a tomato-based kind of guy, you know? And I really, you know, I… The reason I like tomato-based is, you know, is when you describe tomato-based, it’s sweet and savory and… You know, that’s how I’ve been described before!

Shayla: But… Bill, I had higher hopes for you, though. I had much higher hopes for you. I thought that you would understand that vinegar is really where you really start at the epicenter of barbecue.

William: But the versatility, though the tomato sauce, so you can make it sweet, you can add that spice and it holds that consistency and gives that glaze on, you know, those burnt ends and all that stuff. You know, for me… that’s where it’s at!

Shayla: …oh my gosh…

William: That is… That’s what Belinda Carlisle was singing about! That is Heaven on earth!

Shayla: But it doesn’t let the barbecue…. NO No nononono…It doesn’t let the barbecue talk. It’s about that smoke. It’s about that meat. You want to get that juicy, tender meat.

William: You can get that smokiness in that tomato sauce.

Shayla: …oh my gosh…You know that Kansas City made that barbecue sauce so it can cover up a bad barbecue.

William: You know, listen… if Kansas City’s good enough for Taylor Swift…Kansas City is good enough for me!

Shayla: I don’t know about that!! Like when you start thinking about barbecue started over in North Carolina. That’s where it started. And it wasn’t until we got these railroads going across the country that we started getting all this weird stuff coming out.

William: Well, you know, I mean, that’s progression. That’s innovation.

Shayla: …oh my gosh…Oh, that’s, you know, the advent of artificial intelligence. Innovate, innovate, innovate. Just because it was one way this day doesn’t mean it can’t be better tomorrow. But I will say…

William: And tomato sauce…Is the sauce of tomorrow!

Shayla: …I don’t know…One thing I will say… We’re not doing Alabama white.

William: Definitely not doing Alabama white!

Shayla: All right, let’s go.

William: No place in this house.

Shayla: No place in this house!

William: But ya know… At the end of the day, Let’s barbecue together.

Shayla: We should barbecue together, and be better than the politicians. Definitely. Always. Strive for that. That’s what I say every morning… Let’s do it.

William: Wake up and say, “Be better than a politician.”

Shayla: Just a little bit?

William: Yeah, just a little bit.

Shayla: Okay! William: All right. So now, let’s go to our next topic: Green Computing.

William: Yeah, you know, Green Computing…and all the other topics we talked about with regards to ESG and emissions reduction. And, you know… the integration of ChatGPT into Siri, you know, ChatGPT and Generative AI and large language models… that cat’s out of the bag. And the one thing that that cat is hunting for besides mice is data center space. It needs to be able to compute. And, you know, that’s only going to cause more use of energy, more use of water…you know, to run these data centers and these data center footprints. Although the size of the data center itself is staying the same, those old, electricity fields that come out of it are just getting larger and larger and larger and is taking away from green space.

Shayla: Well, come on now, Bill… Are we just talking about this aspect because it’s in your backyard and you don’t want it to be that way? I mean, you gotta do it! You got to do it.

William: Maybe, maybe… Yeah, you know, being a resident of Loudoun County and, you know, all the data centers that are going up there and the largest data center footprint in the US, as far as I know, and possibly the world. Yeah, it is frustrating to see proposals for powerlines going above-ground versus below ground and, you know, changing the landscape of, you know, the beautiful mountains and, you know, all of a sudden…I feel like I’m going to be sitting there at Bear Chase brewery, and…you know, I’m going to leave with like an extra head on my side because I was underneath the powerline trying to have a couple of brews.

Shayla: But the reality is, we just got done talking about the IRA and how it’s so important for us to start thinking about the green landscape, but the reality is we’re not going to stop innovation. We have to continue. The AI is present. We have more companies and tech stacks that have AI just simply turned on. So what better than to do more green computing?

William: Yeah, you know, you definitely have the…hopefully, some great innovations in providing this computing powerin a way that is less impactful on the environment have to come. I wish I was smart enough to think of it because I think you’d be really proud of having that idea. But, I hope that the scientists and the people who do have that knowledge are putting in the effort to come to a conclusion on how to provide the computing power while still, you know, lowering emissions and being green and not ruining my beautiful landscape of Loudoun County.

Shayla: Your backyard. That’s what we talk about.

William: Yes, that’s what it’s always about. Me, me, me.All right! Now on to everyone’s favorite topics….Compliance in the news.

Shayla: [whispers] …yaaaaay!

William: So there’s been some movement around the CMMC and the Title 48 rule. It’s now with the Organization for Information and Regulatory Affairs. They’re reviewing the rule hopefully have that done and…you know, they’re still estimating that CMMC will be in contracts and be actually enforced in Q1 of 2025.

Shayla: But Bill and you know, and this is just me playing devil’s advocate because I’m all about CMMC.

William: Mmm… Love it!

Shayla: But is this gonna encourage people to actually take it…

William: I’m changing my initials to it.

Shayla: Ha HA! Is it going to encourage people to take this thing seriously finally.

William: Well, you know, that’s a really, really great point. And I got to say, you know…It’s been around for a while. It’s not new. I think we’ve said that ad nauseam in many different talks and many different articles we’ve read. You know, the requirements have been in DFARs for 171. If you haven’t taken it seriously, now… You know, you better start taking it seriously and really be ready for this because it is coming. I know it’s not what it was intended to be 2 or 3 years ago when it first came out, but it is what it is, now. And it’s getting these regulations. There’s no turning this ship around. We’re heading forward… right through whatever, you know, obstacle is coming our way. And these companies that it’s going to apply to really need to get their act together.

Shayla: But like I said, playing devil’s advocate…if I was a company, I would think about the fact that I still have a little bit of time. Because we’ve shown that we delay, delay, delay… delay! Like, when are we going to turn this thing on? So is it even inappropriate for us to believe that these companies are going to actually do this? Or you think it’s going to take people actually seeing CMMC and something?

William: Well, you know what’s interesting is… the work I’ve done for some of our clients, the…investigation of the assessment objectives? That takes time. But really the longest time in my engagements is folks collecting the evidence to substantiate what they’re doing.

Shayla: Yeah. William: A lot of people disrespect that. And having good evidence that depicts and conveys you are doing what you say you do. It really proves to be challenging for folks. And so, you know, you better start collecting it now because you’re going to have to have it eventually.

Shayla: Absolutely! I think it’s a good time for people to actually start looking at things and finally taking this thing seriously, then.

William: Well, thanks.

Shayla: Oh, we’re out of time. Thank you for watching.

William: Hey, join the ECS team if you want to have thoughtful and fun exchanges like this. You can follow us on ECStech.com or on LinkedIn.

William: Toodles. T.T.F.N. Goodbye.

Shayla: Good day.

William: Good day, sir. Good day.