Walter O'Brien

Walter O'Brien was born to Larry and Charlotte O'Brien in 1975 in Clonroche, County Wexford, Ireland. The second of five children, he grew up on a farm. He attended St. Patrick's National School in Clonroche until his family moved to Rosshaven, when he was 13 years old. There he attended St. Mary's Christian Brothers School, Enniscorthy.

O'Brien allegedly founded Scorpion Computer Services at age 13 in 1988. The Irish Times reported he brought the business with him in the late 1990s, after graduating from college and moving to the United States. The New Ross Standard wrote that Scorpion Computer Services started as an IT tutoring service that expanded into security and risk management, and The Irish Times also described Scorpion Computer Services as an artificial-intelligence company. In 2014, O'Brien described his company as a think tank for "high IQ individuals". In 2018, Jane's reported that the U.S. Army was using Scorpion's artificial intelligence tool, ScenGen, on its unmanned aerial systems.

O'Brien was a member of the Irish team that participated in the 1993 International Olympiad in Informatics computer coding competition. The university from which he graduated shows his team finished the 1993 Olympiad in 90th place out of 250.

According to O'Brien, in an effort to promote his company Scorpion Computer Services, Inc. and its service Concierge Up, he came up with the idea to create a television show. O'Brien contacted Scooter Braun who shopped the idea to CBS. In September 2014, CBS premiered the first season of the drama series, Scorpion, based on O'Brien's alleged life experiences. He serves as an executive producer for the series, and regularly contributes to story development. For his part in story development O'Brien consults with series writers on technical aspects of the plot, including how he would solve problems presented in the show's scripts. The technical aspects of the plot, however, were a reason for the National Science Teachers Association to advise teachers to use the show as an example of incorrect or exaggerated science in 2015. O'Brien also consults with Elyes Gabel, the actor who plays the fictional Walter O'Brien. In an interview with CBS News to promote the second season, Gabel said about O'Brien that "he's out saving the world or talking to, you know, princes of Liechtenstein. So every now and again, I get the chance to talk to him and he'll call me up. And sometimes we talk about the show. Sometimes we talk about characters."

The first season attracted more than 26 million viewers. CBS ordered a full season of Scorpion in October 2014 and renewed it for a second season in 2015. The show was renewed again for a third season in 2016, with a fourth seasoned confirmed for 2017. In March 2017, CBS renewed Scorpion for season 4. The show was cancelled after four seasons in May 2018.

In 2014, CNET, Techdirt, and Fast Company evaluated CBS' claims about O'Brien's accomplishments, widely reported in the media, following questions to Fast Company. The Irish Times said that "it is impossible to substantiate some claims." In a follow-up interview with Susan Karlin of Fast Company, O'Brien answered some of Karlin's questions but said that he was bound by non-disclosure agreements.

Karlin wrote that some community edited business directories showed O'Brien's company was much smaller than the 2,600 employees and $1.3 billion in revenues stated in Karlin's original article. For example, in 2014 an anonymous editor on Credibility.com recorded Scorpion Computer Services as having 1 employee with annual revenue of $66,000. Karlin points out that community edited business directories data may be unreliable, and O'Brien stated that most of the company consists of independent contractors who work remotely.

In 2015, Kilkenny People reported that O'Brien received a mayoral certificate from the mayor of Kilkenny for his contribution and dedication to the Irish community in Los Angeles. O'Brien helped fund the start-up cost of Kilkenny Taxi Watch which Kilkenny People reported as having prevented 45 suicides through July 2015. By April 2016, Taxi Watch stated on their Facebook page that the number of lives saved had reached 100.

In 2017, O'Brien was honored with unite4:humanity's Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement award.