AI Proving Ground Podcast: Exploring Artificial Intelligence & Enterprise AI with World Wide Technology

AI is no longer an experiment — it’s an accountability test.In this episode of the AI Proving Ground Podcast, Dave DeWalt, Founder and CEO of NightDragon, and Kate Kuehn of WWT unpack what happens when AI systems fail, misfire, or create real-world risk — and who ultimately owns the outcome.As organizations look toward 2026, boards want visibility, CEOs want measurable impact, and the lines between IT, security, and the business have disappeared. AI accelerates opportunity, but it also accelerates exposure — collapsing decision timelines and reshaping responsibility.This conversation explores how accountability is shifting to the top of the enterprise, how leaders should think about ownership when AI breaks, and why resilience, governance, and speed now define competitive advantage.Support for this episode provided by: GraphiantMore about this week's guests:Dave DeWalt is founder and CEO of NightDragon, a venture and advisory firm focused on building the world's leading SecureTech platform. A four-time CEO, he has led iconic companies including FireEye, McAfee, and Documentum, creating over $20B in shareholder value. A longtime board leader and public servant, DeWalt has advised four U.S. administrations on national security and cybersecurity and is a recognized voice on technology risk and resilience.Dave's top pick: Infrastructure as a Strategic Target of WarKate Kuehn joined WWT in 2024, bringing more than 25 years of experience leading and advising cybersecurity, technology, and AI strategy. She has held executive and board roles across the cyber ecosystem — including CISO, CEO, Chief Trust Officer, advisor, and board director — with experience at companies such as Aon, BT, and Verizon. A trusted advisor and award-winning leader, Kate focuses on helping executives and boards align cyber risk, AI, and business strategy in an increasingly complex threat landscape.Kate's top pick: AI Won't Save You: Easterly, Joyce and CISOs on the Cybersecurity Reality No One Wants to HearThe AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions. Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground. The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others. Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

Cyber risk is changing — and AI is accelerating it.In this episode of the AI Proving Ground Podcast, former NSA Director Rob Joyce joins WWT’s Madison Horn to explain how nation-state cyber activity has shifted from quiet espionage to strategic pre-positioning inside critical infrastructure.AI isn’t introducing new tactics — it’s collapsing timelines. Reconnaissance, phishing, and exploitation now move at machine speed, shrinking response windows from weeks to minutes. The result is a fundamentally different threat model.The conversation focuses on what leaders need to understand now: how agentic AI reshapes cyber risk, why basic discipline still matters but no longer scales on its own, and how AI must become a force multiplier for defenders.A clear, high-level look at the cyber line that’s already been crossed — and what comes next.More about this week's guests:Madison Horn is a cybersecurity executive and national security strategist whose work spans technology, policy, and critical infrastructure. With 15+ years of experience, she has led global incident response, digital risk transformation, and cyber strategy across highly regulated and high-risk environments. Madison has held leadership roles at FusionX, Accenture Security, PwC, and on the founding team of Siemens Energy's Global Security practice. She currently serves as National Security & Critical Infrastructure Advisor at WWT, advising on AI governance, ICS/OT resilience, zero trust, and cyber-informed engineering. A frequent media contributor and advocate for women in technology, Madison is driven by advancing digital trust and national resilience.Madison's top pick: Infrastructure as a Strategic Target of WarRob Joyce has more than 30 years of leadership in cybersecurity, cyber operations, and intelligence. He has dedicated his career to advancing national security and cyber resilience. Rob previously served as Director of the Cybersecurity Directorate at the NSA, overseeing defense of the nation's most critical systems, and held senior roles including Acting Homeland Security Advisor and Special Assistant to the President for Cybersecurity. He is the founder of Joyce Cyber LLC and currently advises boards and executives on emerging cyber risks, with advisory and board roles spanning technology, national security, and critical infrastructure.Rob's top pick: Who Owns AI When It BreaksThe AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions. Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground. The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others. Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

Enterprise AI just grew up—and the math has changed.In this episode of the AI Proving Ground Podcast, Francis deSouza, COO of Google Cloud, breaks down why the era of scattered AI pilots is over—and why the winners are moving fast, focused, and top-down.We unpack how leading enterprises are shifting from “let a thousand flowers bloom” to a tight portfolio of high-impact AI use cases that actually ship, scale, and deliver ROI. Francis explains why data strategy—not model choice—is the real competitive advantage, how agents need secure access to data where it already lives (no massive migrations required), and why AI is quietly rewriting the enterprise attack surface.The conversation also gets real about people. The next generation of AI-ready companies won’t just hire specialists—they’ll build AI-fluent teams where every employee is bilingual in their domain and AI.If you’re building for 2026 and beyond, this episode is your signal: less hype, fewer experiments, more execution.More about this week's guest:Francis deSouza is Chief Operating Officer and President of Security Products at Google Cloud, where he leads operations to scale the business and oversees Google Cloud's global security portfolio, spanning products, threat intelligence, consulting, and governance. He joined Google in January 2025 after three decades as an engineer, technology executive, entrepreneur, and investor. Previously, Francis served as CEO of Illumina and President at Symantec. He has co-founded three companies and serves on the board of Deel. Francis holds BS and MS degrees from MIT and is driven by technology's power to improve lives.Francis's top pick: The AI Multiplier: Creating a Sustainable Competitive Advantage with Google Cloud COO Francis deSouzaThe AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions. Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground. The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others. Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

AI is moving faster than the rules designed to govern it—and legal teams are now on the critical path.In this episode of the AI Proving Ground Podcast, Olivia Fleming, Chief Legal Officer at Edgewood Management, and Erika Schenk, General Counsel and EVP of Compliance at World Wide Technology, unpack how enterprise AI is reshaping the legal function—from gatekeeper to growth enabler.They break down why the biggest risk in AI isn’t black-box models or hallucinations—it’s deploying tools no one fully understands. From fragmented data estates and fast-moving regulations to cross-border gray zones and emerging governance models, this conversation gets practical about what legal leaders actually need to know to help AI scale responsibly.The takeaway is clear: when legal is involved early, organizations move faster—not slower. The enterprises winning with AI are building trust, governance, and accountability into the stack from day one.If you’re rolling out AI at scale, navigating regulatory uncertainty, or trying to move fast without breaking things, this episode is required listening.More about this week's guests:Erika Schenk is General Counsel and EVP of Compliance at World Wide Technology, where she leads global legal strategy and compliance. Since joining WWT in 2014, she has built and scaled the legal organization, overseeing contracts, ESG, EHS, government affairs, and legal support for enterprise, service provider, and public sector teams. A trusted business partner, Erika has guided WWT through international expansion, acquisitions, and portfolio growth. She previously served as senior counsel at Boeing and as a partner at Bryan Cave LLP.Olivia Fleming joined Edgewood in November 2007 and serves as the Chief Legal Officer. Olivia graduated from Fordham University with a BA and also received a JD from Tulane University Law School. Olivia was promoted to Partner in December 2018.The AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions. Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground. The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others. Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

AI is shipping faster than security teams can catch it—and the attack surface is quietly exploding.In this episode of the AI Proving Ground Podcast, Shawn Wormke of F5 and Chris Konrad of World Wide Technology unpack the rise of what they call “naked AI”—enterprise AI systems deployed without proper data controls, API protection, or governance.Drawing on new F5 research, they reveal why only 2% of organizations are truly AI-ready, how shadow AI and exposed interfaces are multiplying risk, and why bolting on security after deployment is already too late. As AI systems move toward greater autonomy—and quantum-era threats loom—the conversation makes one thing clear: trust has to be designed into the AI lifecycle from day one.If your organization is racing to production, experimenting with agents, or scaling AI faster than policy can keep up, this episode is a wake-up call.Support for this episode provided by: Red HatMore about this week's guests:Chris Konrad is a global cybersecurity executive and Vice President of Global Cyber at World Wide Technology. Since joining WWT in 2014, he has helped build and scale its $4.5B global security business. Chris leads global cyber strategy, practice development, and partner engagement, aligning security programs to business outcomes across public and private sectors. With 27+ years of experience, he is a trusted advisor to C-suite leaders and a member of the Forbes Technology Council, known for turning cybersecurity into a strategic enabler of resilience and growth.Chris's top pick: Secure All Together: 5 Principles for Building a Culture of CybersecurityShawn Womke is Senior Vice President of Product Management at F5, leading the strategic direction of a portfolio central to how customers build, secure, and scale modern applications. Since joining F5 in 2013, he has helped deliver products grounded in real-world use cases, from open-source innovation in Kubernetes and OpenStack to leading the Aspen Mesh incubation and serving as General Manager of NGINX. With experience spanning Cisco, startups, and global enterprises, Shawn is focused on uniting teams around clear vision, customer impact, and execution at scale.Shawn's top pick: Texas A&M University System Teams Up with WWT for Cyber Range ChallengeThe AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions. Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground. The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others. Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.