Deepfakes, AI Governance, and the Rise of the GRC Engineer with Mike Britton

Trust is the currency of modern security, and AI is about to stress test it. In this episode of Where Trust Meets AI, host and CEO of Drata, Adam Markowitz, sits down with Mike Britton, Chief Information Officer at Abnormal AI, to unpack what trust really means when deepfakes can blur reality, SaaS vendors ship surprise AI features overnight, and governance has to move at the speed of product. Mike also shares how Abnormal AI is becoming AI-native internally without touching customer data, why they built AI transformation pods, and how lightweight governance can still enforce real controls. What You’ll Learn: Why trust collapses faster than it builds How to govern AI tools without killing innovation The shift in third-party risk evaluation for AI vendors Why you should embed AI pods inside business functions How to democratize GRC engineering without hiring software engineers Mike Britton is the Chief Information Officer at Abnormal AI, where he leads enterprise IT, cybersecurity, and the company's AI-native transformation initiatives. With nearly five years at Abnormal AI and a 30-year career in cybersecurity, including previous roles at Fortune 500 companies and financial services, Mike brings deep expertise in building trust through responsible AI adoption, third-party risk management, and modernizing GRC from a compliance burden into a competitive advantage. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:07 From CISO to CIO 02:54 Defining Trust and Why It’s Expansive to Regain 04:37 How AI Pushes Trust Into a New Frontier 07:35 AI-Native Operations 09:35 AI Transformation Without Touching Customer Data 12:57 Governance That Doesn’t Block 16:36 The Emerging Third-Party Risk 19:22 Why Trust Centers Don’t Replace Human Trust 27:27 Hiring for the AI Era 29:58 The Rise of the GRC Engineer 32:28 SecOps vs. GRC Divide 35:04 What CEOs Should Ask Their CIO/CISO 35:49 Books That Shaped Mike’s Approach