Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer

This week on Trending in Ed, host Mike Palmer is joined by Trending in Ed all-star Beth Rudden, CEO of Bast AI. From her roots digging in the dirt as an archaeologist to managing a $34 billion division as the Chief Data Officer of IBM Managed Services, Beth brings a deeply grounded, technical perspective to the artificial intelligence conversation. In this wide-ranging and insightful conversation, Mike and Beth skip the typical AI hype to explore what it actually takes to build explainable, trustworthy technology. Beth shares how Bast AI acts as an LLM-agnostic explainability layer—using a unique drinking chocolate analogy to demonstrate how they verify AI data rather than letting models hallucinate plausible narratives. They explore the practical application of using small language models (SLMs) for data enrichment, highlighted by Bast AI's meaningful work with Craig Hospital to translate complex neuro-spine outpatient procedures into accessible languages and analogies. KEY INSIGHTS: • Inverting the Chatbot Approach: Why defining what an AI can talk about is far more effective than building restrictive guardrails. • The Myth of "Human in the Loop": How shifting accountability to overworked humans can become a form of liability laundering. • Microservices vs. Agentic Harnesses: Looking at the risks of natural language agentic systems like Claude Code versus discrete, self-healing tasks. • Cognitive Offloading & Math Education: Why future technical skills should prioritize differential equations and the diversity prediction theorem over simple calculation. • Pattern Recognition vs. Choice: Defining true intelligence through the ability to choose wisely, rather than just matching mathematical patterns. They also cross paths with the Cynefin framework, explain how the human brain conserves energy by only holding two paradoxes at once, and unpack the cultural shifts reshaping modern engineering ethics. Stay ahead of the curve in education and technology! Please like and share this episode with your network, and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite player so you never miss an episode like this one. LINKS: Learn more about Bast AI: https://www.bast.ai Subscribe to Beth's Substack: https://substack.com/@bethrudden TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Introduction and welcoming Beth Rudden back to the show 01:00 - The drinking chocolate analogy for Explainable AI 03:00 - Beth’s lightning-round background: Archaeology to Chief Data Officer at IBM 05:00 - Getting "catfished by AI" and verifying facts with databases 07:00 - Mike on Gemini, RAG applications, and checking AI confabulation 09:00 - Enriched data and Small Language Models (SLMs) at Craig Hospital 12:00 - Epistemic security and inverting conversational technology 14:30 - Liability laundering and the illusion of "human in the loop" 15:30 - Agentic harnesses vs. self-healing microservices 20:00 - Understanding as labor and Conrad Wolfram's three-step math process 22:30 - Future human skills: Differential equations and jelly bean statistics 26:30 - Pattern recognition vs. true intelligence as the ability to choose 29:30 - Neurosymbolic systems and subjectivity in data science 34:30 - Shunting energy: The Cynefin framework and holding paradoxes 38:30 - Healthcare AI scribes and doctor burnout 44:30 - Trust architectures and building tech for the Maintenance Era 47:30 - Cultural devastation and the teleological suspension of ethics 49:00 - Final thoughts and wrapping up with Beth Rudden

Is Abundance Inevitable? A 100-Year Vision with McKinsey’s Chris Bradley What if the "Black Mirror" version of the future is wrong? In this episode, Mike Palmer talks with Chris Bradley, Senior Partner at McKinsey and Director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), about his new book, A Century of Plenty: A Story of Progress for Generations to Come. Chris breaks down the "Machine of Progress" and explains why a "strategic optimism" mindset is essential for navigating the next century. We explore a future where global prosperity could reach Swiss standards, the radical shifts in our demographics, and why AI might actually make us more human. Key Takeaways: 🌟 The Power of Strategic Optimism: Why historical data shows that humanity’s "fingerprint" is progress, not scarcity. 🇨🇭 The Swiss Benchmark: A thought experiment on whether the global economy can grow 8.5x to ensure every person on Earth lives as well as the Swiss do today. 📉 The Demographic Cliff: How shrinking birth rates in countries like China and South Korea are making productivity growth a "do or die" necessity for our social systems. 🤖 AI as an Augmentation Tool: Why the highest employment growth is happening in the most AI-exposed fields and how "The O-Ring Theory" explains the rising value of human judgment. 🎓 Reimagining Education: A provocative look at why the education sector has seen high inflation but low innovation, and how AI tutors could ensure "no child is left behind". 🍎 The Non-Zero-Sum World: Moving past the "Petri dish" mindset to understand how resources like energy and capital can expand to meet global needs. Key Resources: 📘 Book: A Century of Plenty: A Story of Progress for Generations to Come. 📊 MGI Report: Agents, Robots, and Us. 🏒 Chris’s Previous Bestseller: Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick. Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts. Don't miss insightful conversations like this one.

In this episode of Trending in Education, host Mike Palmer welcomes Tara Chklovski, the founder and CEO of Technovation, a global nonprofit that has been at the intersection of AI and education since 2016. Tara shares her journey from growing up in India to pursuing a PhD in aerospace engineering and eventually launching a mobile entrepreneurship program just two years after the iPhone debuted. The conversation dives into the Technovation accelerator model, a three-month program for girls and young women ages 8 to 24. Tara explains how the program empowers students to identify real-world problems in their communities and build tech-based startups to solve them. We discuss the importance of fostering a problem-solving mindset, the critical role of human mentorship in an AI-driven world, and why the "personalized learning" trend might be too narrow a lens for the future of education. Key Insights: 💡 Early Intervention: Why we shouldn’t underestimate children's ability to tackle complex community problems as early as age eight. 🤖 AI as a Teammate: How Technovation’s "AI in Action" curriculum uses artificial intelligence as a brainstorming partner and subject matter expert for student teams. 🌍 Global Innovation: Stories of impact from 120 countries, including an alumna whose AI startup was acquired at age 19 and a student in India tracking environmental health through bird songs. 🏗️ Resilient Skills: Shifting the focus from simple AI literacy to building durable skills like user research, business planning, and civic responsibility. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to Tara Chklovski and Technovation 01:00 - Tara’s origin story: From India to aerospace engineering 03:15 - The mission to unlock human potential through STEM 04:20 - Breaking down the Technovation accelerator model 07:15 - Why educators should be early adopters of new tech 10:45 - Addressing the gender gap in technical careers 15:30 - The "AI in Action" curriculum and free resources 21:30 - How AI elevates project-based learning in classrooms 24:30 - The three functions of modern schools 31:00 - Concerns regarding "personalized learning" bandwagons 35:45 - A call to action for the current Technovation season Subscribe to Trending in Ed wherever you get your podcasts—you don’t want to miss conversations like this one. To learn more about the program or access the free curriculum, visit technovation.org.

K-12 leadership is currently navigating a "perma-crisis". From the lingering disruptions of a global pandemic to the sudden integration of generative AI, the demands on school principals and superintendents have evolved far beyond the traditional focus on "books, butts, and buses". In this episode of Trending in Ed, Mike Palmer sits down with Dr. Lisa Herring, the CEO of New Leaders and a veteran superintendent who led major districts like Atlanta Public Schools and Birmingham City Schools through some of the most turbulent years in recent memory. Dr. Herring shares her perspective on the "problem of practice" facing education today: the critical need for a leadership pipeline that can bridge the gap between traditional instruction and the rapidly shifting needs of the modern workforce. She discusses the "invisible culture" of leading remote districts, the importance of upskilling educators in the age of AI, and why she believes standardized testing is a relic of the past. This conversation is a call to action for "FIRE"—Fearless Innovation Reimagined Education—challenging leaders to stop being afraid of the future and start co-creating it alongside their students. Episode Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to leadership transformation in K-12 01:03 - Dr. Lisa Herring’s career journey from classroom teacher to CEO 03:52 - The mission and impact of New Leaders in developing school principals 06:17 - Addressing the leadership pipeline and teacher shortage crisis 08:50 - The evolution of the principalship: Moving beyond the "old school" model 10:48 - Leading Atlanta Public Schools through the 2020 pandemic 17:11 - Education as workforce development and the role of upskilling 22:24 - How generative AI is reshaping instruction and administrative work 26:47 - Rethinking school structures and mastery-based learning 28:38 - Rapid-fire takes on standardized testing and the four-day school week 30:37 - Closing thoughts on "FIRE": Fearless Innovation Reimagined Education Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a conversation like this one.