And We Feel Fine with Beth Rudden and Katie Smith
And We Feel Fine with Beth Rudden and Katie Smith
Podcast Description
At the edge of collapse—and creation—two unlikely co-conspirators invite you into a radically honest conversation about the future. This isn’t just another tech or self-help podcast. It’s a story-driven exploration of who we are, what we value, and how we might reimagine the world when the systems around us stop serving us.
We blend personal storytelling, cultural critique, and deep inquiry into what it means to be human in an age of AI, uncertainty, and transformation. We’re asking better questions—together.
Because the world is changing fast, but maybe that’s precisely what we need.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The show focuses on themes like the impact of AI on human connection, the evolution of caregiving, emotional intelligence, and community resilience, with episodes exploring topics like the ethics of effective altruism, the intersection of tech and tenderness in caregiving, and the contemplation of belonging in an age of uncertainty.
At the edge of collapse—and creation—two unlikely co-conspirators invite you into a radically honest conversation about the future. This isn’t just another tech or self-help podcast. It’s a story-driven exploration of who we are, what we value, and how we might reimagine the world when the systems around us stop serving us. We blend personal storytelling, cultural critique, and deep inquiry into what it means to be human in an age of AI, uncertainty, and transformation. We’re asking better questions—together.
Because the world is changing fast, but maybe that’s precisely what we need.
Hosted by Beth Rudden and Katie Smith, two builders of systems and challengers of the status quo. Beth is CEO of Bast.AI and a globally recognized expert in trustworthy AI, with decades of experience leading data and ethics at IBM. Katie is the founder of Humma.AI, a strategist who drove innovation and revenue growth at major global brands before turning to human rights and technology for social good. Together, they make complex issues, such as AI and its impacts on everyday people, clear, personal, and impossible to ignore.
Beth Rudden is the CEO and Founder of Bast AI, a pioneering company building explainable, personalized AI for good. With over two decades of experience as a global executive and Distinguished Engineer at IBM, Beth blends anthropology, data science, and AI governance to create tools that amplify human dignity and intelligence—not replace it.
Her work spans healthcare, education, and workforce transformation, using ontological natural language understanding (NLU) to make AI transparent, accountable, and accessible. Through Bast AI, Beth is reimagining how organizations deploy AI that’s not only accurate but aligned with ethical values, cultural context, and cognitive well-being.
Beth is also the author of AI for the Rest of Us and a passionate advocate for AI literacy, epistemic diversity, and the right to understand the systems shaping our lives. She speaks globally on the future of AI, power, and social contracts—and believes we’re all stewards of the next intelligence.
Katie Smith is the CEO and Founder of Humma.AI, a privacy-first platform building community-powered, culturally competent AI. With over two decades of experience leading digital strategy and social innovation, Katie blends systems thinking, Responsible AI, and storytelling to create tools that serve dignity, not domination. Their work spans mental health, civic tech, and digital rights, using participatory AI to make systems safer, fairer, and more accountable. Through Humma.AI, Katie is reimagining how people and businesses engage AI that’s accurate, inclusive, and governed by consent and care. Katie is also the author of Zoe Bios: The Epigenetics of Terrorism, a provocative exploration of identity, trauma, and transformation. They speak globally on the future of technology, power, and justice—and believe human empathy is the intelligence that will define our time.
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What happens when we stop chasing the myth of the lone “10x coder” and start building engineering cultures rooted in empathy, predictability, and inclusion?
In this candid conversation, we go deep with Autumn Patterson—VP of Technology, veteran engineering leader, and trans woman whose journey has redefined what leadership in tech can look like. Autumn shares how she learned to “climb the mountain,” moving fluidly from the details of code to the big-picture vision of business impact.
Along the way, we explore:
- Why true agility is about context and predictability, not just speed.
- The three pillars of engineering stability: due consideration, understanding, and predictability.
- How transitioning unlocked Autumn’s empathy and made authentic leadership possible.
- The dangers of “10x coders” and cultures that exclude, versus teams that thrive on mentorship and balance.
- How AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and Lovable are reshaping engineering work—for better and worse.
- Why inclusion isn’t charity—it’s strategy.
This episode is for anyone who wants to rethink leadership, connect code to culture, and build systems where both people and products can thrive.
Find Autumn:
LinkedIn: Autumn Patterson
Quora: (if you can find her 👀)
Brought to you by:
- Humma — Empathetic AI™ made by and for the community.
- Bast.ai — Building the trust layer for our AI infrastructure.
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