# Kiriakou on artificial intelligence > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Kiriakou on artificial intelligence," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-on-artificial-intelligence/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's stated experience with and objections to large language models — a ChatGPT exchange in which the system stated his degrees incorrectly, refused his correction and then cut him off, and a test in which every scholarly citation it produced for his university syllabus turned out to be fabricated. He also describes AI as the flagging layer of contemporary surveillance.* - **First test:** Asked ChatGPT 'who is John Kiriakou' - **System's answer:** Bachelor's from the University of Maryland; master's from the University of Ghent - **Kiriakou's correction:** Both degrees from George Washington University - **Outcome:** System repeated the false answer, told him he was incorrect, then refused further questions - **Second test:** Fed his University of Salamanca syllabus in asking for scholarly sources - **Result:** Every citation returned was fabricated; all resolved to 404 errors [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says he accepts that artificial intelligence *"is the future"* and has applications that *"in many cases can save lives"*, but describes two personal tests that shaped his objections.[1] ## The biography test When the technology first became widely available he asked ChatGPT who he was. The answer identified him correctly as a former [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officer and torture-programme whistleblower, but stated that he had earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and a master's from the University of Ghent in Belgium. Kiriakou corrected it, saying he had received both degrees at George Washington University. *"And then AI comes back and says 'you are incorrect — John Kiriakou received his degrees at the University of Maryland and the University of Ghent.' And I said 'no, you are incorrect.' And then it cut me off."* The system refused to answer any further questions, which he says bothered him very much.[2][3] ## The syllabus test Kiriakou teaches graduate classes on the history of terrorism as an adjunct professor at the University of Salamanca in Spain. Having drawn up his syllabus for the year, he fed the whole document into ChatGPT and asked it to recommend scholarly articles, books and doctoral dissertations he might have missed. *"So it gave me different citations for every one of my lectures, and every single one of them was fake. Every one of them — you click on it and it says 404 error. Every single one of them. It just made it up. None of it was real."* His conclusion: *"I don't want to live in that world. None of that makes any sense to me."*[4][5] ## As a surveillance layer Kiriakou's structural objection is that the output reflects its authors: *"it's a human that programs the algorithm in which the AI is going to run with, so you can cater it to what you want it to say and how you want it to act."* He describes the systems as already operating as a triage layer for surveillance — *"they're using AI right now just to flag us, to find out the troublemakers, and then bring a human over to it once the AI flags it"* — and calls the resulting situation a very bad one.[6] ## As a tradecraft problem Kiriakou's operational objection is separate from his objection to what the systems produce. *"I'm worried about AI vis-à-vis counterterrorism. First of all, it's tough enough as it is to cross borders with six different identities. How in the world are [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officers going to cross borders or get through airports with facial recognition scans and AI following their every movement around the world?"*[7] He treats it as an arms race the agency is resourced for but not assured of winning: *"at the same time, AI makes the bad guys smarter. So the CIA's got the money and they have access to the right people and the right companies and the right experts to stay up on this — but this is going to be an uphill struggle."*[8] ## See also - [Mass Surveillance](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mass-surveillance) - [Purchased data as a warrant workaround](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/purchased-data-warrant-workaround) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) ## Sources 1. Where the Hell Is Panquake? Surveillance & The Technocratic (2025-03-01), at 1:04:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8u-MbN9jA&t=3861s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-03-01-truthwire-where-the-hell-is-panquake-surveillance-the-t/ 2. Where the Hell Is Panquake? Surveillance & The Technocratic (2025-03-01), at 1:04:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8u-MbN9jA&t=3891s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-03-01-truthwire-where-the-hell-is-panquake-surveillance-the-t/ 3. Where the Hell Is Panquake? Surveillance & The Technocratic (2025-03-01), at 1:05:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8u-MbN9jA&t=3923s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-03-01-truthwire-where-the-hell-is-panquake-surveillance-the-t/ 4. Where the Hell Is Panquake? Surveillance & The Technocratic (2025-03-01), at 1:05:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8u-MbN9jA&t=3956s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-03-01-truthwire-where-the-hell-is-panquake-surveillance-the-t/ 5. Where the Hell Is Panquake? Surveillance & The Technocratic (2025-03-01), at 1:06:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8u-MbN9jA&t=3987s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-03-01-truthwire-where-the-hell-is-panquake-surveillance-the-t/ 6. Where the Hell Is Panquake? Surveillance & The Technocratic (2025-03-01), at 1:06:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8u-MbN9jA&t=4018s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-03-01-truthwire-where-the-hell-is-panquake-surveillance-the-t/ 7. title doesn't name John — confirm subject (2026-01-22), at 52:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcfwx50zl40&t=3125s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-22-insider-authorized-account-title-doesn-t-name-john-confirm-subject/ 8. title doesn't name John — confirm subject (2026-01-22), at 52:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcfwx50zl40&t=3160s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-22-insider-authorized-account-title-doesn-t-name-john-confirm-subject/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-on-artificial-intelligence/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt