Hmm, wow... I played original Deus Ex a few times and do not recall it. Is it part of the recently released "Revision" uplift? :-\
It's in the original game and it was the MJ12 Daedalus AI, although I'm not quite sure where the player picks that piece of backstory up. It might be in the dialogue with the prototype in the Everett house.
Definitely time to give it another play through.