Ever wonder if there's a better way to build AI? One that doesn't rely on scraping the internet without consent or encouraging dependency on opaque systems?Beth Rudden, CEO of Bast AI, offers a refreshing perspective that challenges everything we've come to accept about artificial intelligence.

At the heart of Beth's approach lies a fundamental truth: understanding is a labor, not an act. Unlike mainstream AI systems that statistically brute-force syntax without context, Bast AI grounds information in ontologies and graph models, providing the necessary scaffolding for genuine comprehension. The result? 

Deterministic systems that never hallucinate or go off-script while still leveraging generative capabilities for appropriate applications.

Beth draws a crucial distinction between what AI and humans do best – machines excel at sensing patterns across vast datasets, while humans determine which patterns actually matter. This insight leads to a compelling vision for the future: local libraries housing community-specific language models, with librarians serving as ethical stewards of information. Such systems could revitalize news deserts, enhance emergency response, and preserve cultural context in ways centralized models simply cannot.

The conversation ventures beyond technical discussions into profound territory – challenging our relationship with technology itself. When Beth says, ”AI is great if you're already wise,” she invites us to consider how intentional we are with these powerful tools. 

• Are we asking meaningful questions or simply seeking shortcuts? 
• Are we curating quality inputs or accepting whatever data corporations feed into their algorithms?

Ready to reimagine what AI could be? Join this thought-provoking discussion about creating technology that truly serves humanity rather than merely extracting value from it.

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The Human Layer is produced by DesertRat Productions a boutique narrative studio architecting knowledge systems for the next world. We executive produce podcasts, community sanctuaries, and cultural frameworks that preserve wisdom, catalyze emergence, and compost empire into something regenerative.

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