Beth Rudden will explore the human element of AI at KM & AI Summit 2025

There’s a lot of trepidation when dealing with AI, and for good reasons. However, the key to utilizing the tech is to work with it, not against it.

At KM & AI Summit, during her session, “Engaging KMers & Staff With AI,” Beth Rudden, CEO and Chairwoman, Bast, and AI author, AI for the Rest of Us, seeks to answer questions such as: How are your colleagues, staff, and communities adapting and adjusting to AI? Are they on board with implementations? Are they excited about implementing new technologies?

Unlock the future of innovation and knowledge management at the KM & AI Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 17-19, 2025.

The first of its kind event, brought to you by the organizers of KMWorld, brings together thought leaders, technologists, KM practitioners, and industry experts to explore cutting-edge strategies for managing organizational knowledge and leveraging the power of AI to drive transformation.

“Part of what I’m always talking about is the intersection of KM techniques and remixing it with newer tech like AI, using a mix of humans and AI,” Rudden said. “The core theme is: How do we get more people who have the understanding, training, and comprehension that data is an artifact of human experience to be more involved in the mainstream to make AI broader.”

Her session will focus on how to elevate this technology in knowledge management and with knowledge management to ingrain a human side.

“We can show people there is an alternative to Blackbox AI that can be practical,” Rudden said. “I see hope for future with how we can take people grounded in KM and make them relevant in the fast-paced world of AI.”

She is looking forward to connecting with people at the conference and emphasizing that the AI business model needs to change so that the purpose of AI isn’t just to harness data from people.

“That is not a sustainable business model for humanity,” Rudden said. “I want everyone to be able to build their own AI in a way that’s not just giving up data to some other organization that may use it in a way you’re not aware of. That is something that is really interesting to me.”

She predicts attendees will be interested in agentic AI, but she remains bullish about its popularity.

“A lot of people are excited about agentic AI but, in practical reality, you have to understand what the problem is you’re solving to get the data you need to train models,” Rudden explained.

She stressed that these types of AI technologies need to be grounded and have boundaries. The important thing to know first is the difference between agentic AI and AI agents.

Agentic AI is a type of AI that’s all about autonomy. This means that it can make decisions, take actions, and even learn on its own to achieve specific goals.

AI Agents are typically built to do specific tasks. They’re designed to help with something, such as answering questions, organizing calendars, or even managing an email inbox.

“What happens if the agentic AI is wrong? What happens when the AI goes off script? I’m curious about this because I don’t see movement on people understanding what problem is solved by the agentic AI,” Rudden said. “I don’t know how successful it is at scale.”

Rudden’s session will take place on Wednesday, March 19, at 11:45 am.

For more information on KM & AI Summit and to register, go to https://www.kmworld.com/KMAISummit/2025/Default.aspx.