DGTL Voices with Ed Marx

Episode: AI's Canary in the Coal Mine (ft. Amy Brown)
Date: November 20, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode of DGTL Voices, host Ed Marx sits down with Amy Brown—founder and CEO of Authentics—to explore the intersections of artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare technology, and leadership. Amy shares her unique journey from a healthcare policy background to leading an AI startup and offers practical wisdom about entrepreneurship, digital healthcare transformation, and effective leadership. The conversation delves into how AI is both an opportunity and a challenge for healthcare, with Amy providing grounded advice for leaders at all stages of their careers.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Amy Brown’s Background & Founding Story

• Early Influences & Healthcare Roots

  • Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan; raised in Indianapolis in a medical family (her father is a cardiothoracic surgeon, her mother a special ed teacher).
  • Early direct exposure to the tensions between clinical care and the business side of healthcare.
  • Memorable anecdote about attending a heart transplant as an eighth-grader ([03:02]).

• Shift from Clinical to Macro Systems

  • Initially intended to pursue clinical care, but shifted to a master's in social work with a focus on macro systems and policy ([04:25]).
  • First professional role was in state government with Medicaid, developing a passion for how policy shapes healthcare realities.

• Corporate Career & Fork in the Road

  • Rose to Chief Operating Officer at a travel medical insurance company by age 42.

  • Faced pivotal decision: stay in the security of corporate life, or model taking bold risks for her children by founding a startup.

  • Family supported 18 months without income—a leap that shaped her leadership ([06:30]).

    "Do I continue to be an employee and have, at least a perceived secure job... or do I show them... what it really means to follow your dreams and the financial sacrifice?"
    — Amy Brown ([06:40])

• Advice for Aspiring Founders

  • The crucial importance of deep introspection and emotional preparation.
  • Mentorship advice: "emotionally try on the role" before leaping ([08:20]).
  • The difficulty of founding a tech company: "Nothing could have prepared me for the level of difficulty of starting a tech company." ([09:21])

The Authentics Origin Story & Impact

• Identifying the Problem

  • When in corporate roles, Amy noticed that call center data—hundreds of recorded customer conversations—was an untapped goldmine for business intelligence.

  • Existing focus was on surveys and NPS scores, missing the "canary in a coal mine": actual customer conversations ([11:36]).

    "Inside these conversations are really the keys to the kingdom. It's the canary in a coal mine."
    — Amy Brown ([12:42])

• Solution: Authentics’ Conversational Intelligence

  • Authentics leverages AI—specifically tuned for healthcare—to extract real, actionable signals from conversation data.

  • Focused exclusively on healthcare clients to ensure highly specific, accurate AI models.

  • Addresses real-world challenges such as identifying customer friction, gaps in care, and systemic business issues—not just agent errors ([13:31]).

    "More times than not, the problem really is more systemic and in the hands of the leaders, and they need to listen."
    — Amy Brown ([14:51])

• Delivering ROI for Healthcare Clients

  • Authentics helps organizations identify common pain points and systemic issues from conversations, allowing them to take targeted action, reduce costs, and improve satisfaction ([13:31]–[15:14]).
  • Distinguishes between technology issues and human resource issues in customer service scenarios.

AI in Healthcare: Opportunities & Warnings

• The Promise of AI

  • Opportunity to personalize and improve care, reduce disparities, and enhance interoperability ([16:57], optimistic scenario).
  • Potential to address systemic inefficiencies and better leverage “signals” in patient-staff-technology interactions.

• Cautionary Perspective

  • Lamented current market trend: deploying AI without enough focus on workforce integration and change management.

  • Stressed that 80% of AI projects fail—"not because of the AI, it's because of the human component of it" ([17:30]).

  • Warned against short-termism: “Short-sighted mindset in deploying this type of technology” ([18:35]).

    "Workforces are scared, they’re confused, they don’t know how to recalibrate their purpose alongside the AI. And our leaders haven’t done a good enough job preparing their workforce..."
    — Amy Brown ([18:07])

Leadership & Life Advice

• Early Leadership Lessons

  • Became a manager in her twenties, leading people older and more experienced—very humbling and highlighted the never-ending journey of leadership ([19:34]).

• Advice for Mid-career Professionals

  • Urged deep introspection and realistic emotional “try-ons” before making the entrepreneurial leap ([08:20]).

• Advice for Young Leaders

  • Embrace failure and challenges as the path to real learning and growth; resist the urge to look for quick promotion ([21:13]).

  • Success comes from resilience—learning from feedback and not expecting to escape suffering or rejection quickly.

    "It's almost like signing up for rejection and the feeling of suffering. But if you do that, it can be the greatest teacher."
    — Amy Brown ([21:42])

• Life Mantra & Resilience

  • Shares a guiding principle:

    "Wherever you go, there you are... Work on yourself first and always."
    — Amy Brown ([01:47])

  • Emphasized manual labor and self-reliance instilled by her parents as key to her risk-taking foundation ([22:52]).

    "You need to know what you're made of in order to take risks in life. And that helped give me some of that grounding."
    — Amy Brown ([23:45])

• Self-care & Balance

  • Practices meditation, daily workouts for mental health, perspective-taking, and ongoing connection outside of work ([24:09]–[25:02]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI as a tool, not a replacement:
  "Regardless if a company is using an AI agent or a human agent... inside that interaction are profound insights that need to be heard and listened to. So that’s the role we see ourselves playing."
  — Amy Brown ([15:52])

• On nothing being wasted:
  "Nothing is wasted. Even the hard times... it is something to fuel you into your future and your next steps."
  — Amy Brown ([25:42])

• Host's Reflection on Amy’s Risk-taking:
  "That’s pretty badass, as I would say, to do something like that. But you did it. You did it well."
  — Ed Marx ([25:13])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:07] Amy’s music playlist & life mantra
• [03:11] Amy’s background and family influences
• [06:30] Pivotal moment—leaving corporate for entrepreneurship
• [08:20] Amy’s advice for those considering a leap
• [11:36] Authentics: The founding story and product overview
• [13:31] How clients demonstrate ROI with Authentics
• [16:49] The future of conversational AI – cautionary vs. optimistic predictions
• [19:34] Leadership lessons—managing older & more experienced staff
• [21:13] Advice for emerging leaders
• [22:52] Lessons from parents and grounding experiences
• [24:09] Amy’s approaches to recharge and self-care
• [25:42] Final advice: “Nothing is wasted”

Conclusion

This episode delivers an honest, inside look at the complexities of digital transformation in healthcare, especially through the perspective of an entrepreneur with a grounding in social work and policy. Amy Brown’s candid reflections, humility, and actionable takeaways make this a must-listen for anyone interested in healthcare leadership, AI deployment, and the realities of building something new from scratch. The conversation is rich in practical advice and underscores the ongoing need for both introspection and boldness in the evolving digital health landscape.