Model Citizen Podcast

Glenn Parham

A podcast on AI, National Security, and Gen-Z. By the Pentagon's 1st Generative AI Technical Lead, Glenn Parham. https://www.glennparham.com

Episodes

  1. Inside the Pentagon’s Generative AI Task Force

    AUG 11

    Inside the Pentagon’s Generative AI Task Force

    Host Glenn Parham takes listeners inside Task Force Lima, the Pentagon’s two-year sprint to bring generative AI into the largest organization in the world. From ChatGPT’s first shockwave in DC to the political and technical battles over model authorizations, Glenn explains what it took to ship working prototypes, bring frontier models into government environments, and publish DoD-specific AI benchmarks. He also lays out his concept for AI Government Alignment—ensuring that government users get the compute, access, and permissions they need without running into the dreaded “As an AI model, I cannot…” wall. Follow us on social media: - Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfTDUs7w0cUZASWcxJ86UtOvUXpQL_6xi⁠ - Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/0o9fJZqJTUM63vdvrTuOzm?si=ONTZKzmvQ3C_BDiC_Az2YQ⁠ - Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/model-citizen-podcast/id1830042860⁠ - X: ⁠https://x.com/model_citizen_⁠ - LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/108275414⁠ - Podcast Website: ⁠https://www.glennparham.com/model-citizen-podcast⁠ 0:00 – Cold open: $5M chatbots, Chinese models beating LLaMA, and the “no metrics” problem 0:35 – Welcome & keynote context: Joint AI for Energetics Conference 1:40 – From DDS to Task Force Lima: Why the DoD needed a generative AI task force 4:10 – Early wins and obstacles: First AI guidance, ATO bottlenecks, open vs. closed-weight models 11:10 – Axon framework: Fine-tuning DoD policy models & running on HPCs 14:00 – Compute bottlenecks and cost chaos: $5M vs $10K chatbots 15:20 – Scaling NIPR-GPT & building a DoD AI community 17:00 – Preparing the Pentagon for AGI: Secure pipelines & benchmarks 20:10 – Founding GovBench: AI government alignment and Joint Staff Bench results 23:40 – Chinese models outperforming U.S. baselines — why it matters 25:20 – Roadmap: V2 benchmarks, expansion beyond DoD 27:10 – Q&A: Alignment vs safety, fixing guardrails, best DoD AI use cases, and making models mission-ready 29:20 – Closing thoughts & where to learn more

    31 min
  2. Introducing AI + Government Alignment

    AUG 5

    Introducing AI + Government Alignment

    Glenn Parham introduces AI + Government Alignment, a GovBench framework for adapting AI models to public-sector missions. He breaks down the unique authorities governments hold, the “Coverage × Utility” metric for impact, and the paired checklists—seven requirements for AI systems, seven for governments—that can move the technology from demo to daily tool. Follow us on social media: - Youtube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfTDUs7w0cUZASWcxJ86UtOvUXpQL_6xi⁠⁠ - Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/0o9fJZqJTUM63vdvrTuOzm?si=ONTZKzmvQ3C_BDiC_Az2YQ⁠⁠ - Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/model-citizen-podcast/id1830042860⁠⁠ - X: ⁠⁠https://x.com/model_citizen_⁠⁠ - LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/108275414⁠⁠ - Podcast Website: ⁠⁠https://www.glennparham.com/model-citizen-podcast⁠⁠ - (00:00) Cold Open – “AI denied in INDOPACOM” - (01:00) Welcome & program reveal - (02:00) Government’s unique monopolies - (04:00) What ‘alignment’ really means - (05:15) 7 promises from the AI side - (07:00) 7 obligations for government - (08:30) Who controls which levers - (10:30) Benchmarks & advocacy - (12:30) Alignment roadmap - (14:00) Call to action - (15:00) Outro & next episode

    15 min
  3. Episode 0: Welcome to the Model Citizen Podcast

    TRAILER

    Episode 0: Welcome to the Model Citizen Podcast

    We’re entering into a new era of incredibly powerful AI, a desire for more efficient and agile government, and a maturing & empowered Gen-z who is exerting increasing pressure politically and institutionally. My name is Glenn, and I’m a software turned AI engineer. I was also the Pentagon’s 1st technical lead of generative AI who is also of Gen-Z, these topics are particularly close to me. I want to evolve the conversation beyond surface-level buzzwords. We know AI is a game changer….how is the government supposed to use it without turning into SkyNet? We know Gen-Z is the future…but their mindset and priorities are dramatically different than previous generations…is that going to influence foreign policy/national security posture over the next few decades? In the Model Citizen Podcast, I’ll be interviewing experts in these topics, some of them former bosses, some of them folks I’ve watched from afar. Talking about substantive topics in an entertaining way can be difficult…but Americans have a vested interest in these ideas. Listen to Model Citizen wherever you get your podcasts! Follow us on social media: - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfTDUs7w0cUZASWcxJ86UtOvUXpQL_6xi - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0o9fJZqJTUM63vdvrTuOzm?si=ONTZKzmvQ3C_BDiC_Az2YQ - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/model-citizen-podcast/id1830042860 - X: https://x.com/model_citizen_ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/108275414 - Podcast Website: https://www.glennparham.com/model-citizen-podcast

    1 min
  4. Why Defense Digital Service Died, And What DOGE Can Learn

    JUL 31

    Why Defense Digital Service Died, And What DOGE Can Learn

    Former Defense Digital Service director Jennifer Hay joins host Glenn Parham to unpack why the Pentagon’s celebrated “SWAT team of nerds” shut its doors—and what the new White-House-backed Department of Government Efficiency must learn to avoid the same fate. Episode summary & notes: https://www.glennparham.com/why-dds-died-and-what-doge-can-learn Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/qa6CVZ3B-WE Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0L1GKXtWUIWQPE7PflrPiY?si=2zzfFi0IR5ywOLF-gNHHiA Follow Glenn Parham on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennparham/ Follow Jennifer Hay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkhay/ Follow us on social media: - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfTDUs7w0cUZASWcxJ86UtOvUXpQL_6xi - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0o9fJZqJTUM63vdvrTuOzm?si=ONTZKzmvQ3C_BDiC_Az2YQ - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/model-citizen-podcast/id1830042860 - X: https://x.com/model_citizen_ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/108275414 - Podcast Website: https://www.glennparham.com/model-citizen-podcast

    1h 2m
  5. The Pentagon is GPU Poor. Fixing the Pentagon’s GPU Crisis in 90 Days.

    JUL 30

    The Pentagon is GPU Poor. Fixing the Pentagon’s GPU Crisis in 90 Days.

    The Pentagon has a GPU crisis: it doesn't have enough GPUs in the right places. Despite all the hype, if it doesn't course correct, it will spend billions of dollars and be in the same situation years from now. Here’s how we could fix it in 90 days. Welcome to Model Citizen. Episode summary and notes: https://www.glennparham.com/model-citizen-episode-1 Follow us on social media: - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfTDUs7w0cUZASWcxJ86UtOvUXpQL_6xi - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0o9fJZqJTUM63vdvrTuOzm?si=ONTZKzmvQ3C_BDiC_Az2YQ - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/model-citizen-podcast/id1830042860 - X: https://x.com/model_citizen_ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/108275414 - Podcast Website: https://www.glennparham.com/model-citizen-podcast

    16 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

A podcast on AI, National Security, and Gen-Z. By the Pentagon's 1st Generative AI Technical Lead, Glenn Parham. https://www.glennparham.com

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