Episode Overview

Podcast: Risk Never Sleeps
Episode: #161 — Why Trust In AI Depends On Telling The Whole Truth
Host: Ed Gaudet
Guest: Anthony Lee, Executive Communication Coach & Head of Heroic Voice Academy
Date: December 12, 2025

This episode focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), trust, and communication in healthcare. Host Ed Gaudet and co-host Saul Marquez speak with Anthony Lee about AI adoption, building authentic trust by telling the whole truth, and the skills healthcare leaders (and anyone presenting to audiences) will need in an AI-driven future.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. State of AI in Healthcare Conferences

• Anthony Lee contrasts AI knowledge at healthcare conferences vs. highly technical AI events:
  • At Aimed (the conference where this is recorded), most are still at the beginner stage in terms of AI understanding.
  • “[At TED AI], it’s the most technical topics... everything you can imagine is going to happen tomorrow. Here it's really productivity [and] what’s going to be the patient experience.” — Anthony Lee [02:55]
  • Ed and Anthony agree the industry needs to act faster and proactively.
• The importance of stories to drive innovation and trust in AI:
  • Anthony shares how medical AI advanced from identifying a few “precursors” in a retina scan to over 20, simply by improved machine learning — “That’s what’s possible... It’s just imagination, the willingness to think beyond what’s possible.” — Anthony Lee [04:28]

2. Establishing Trust in New Technology

• Comparison to Internet adoption & the role of trust:
  • Anthony references his experience at VeriSign helping the public trust e-commerce through “digital certificates.”
  • “What is the equivalent today with AI? What will allow me to trust ChatGPT with information?” — Anthony Lee [09:37]
• Honesty about AI's impact is crucial for lasting trust:
  • Ed voices concern about minimizing/disguising AI’s potential to replace jobs:
    • “We should not be dishonest about that... if we are dishonest and it happens, guess what? Trust is gone. All that trust we just built up... gone.” — Ed Gaudet [10:47]
  • A real conversation is needed about the social and economic impact, especially regarding “waves” of job loss from rapid AI adoption. [11:18–12:59]

3. Human-AI Collaboration in Healthcare

• “Human in the loop” is essential:
  • Anthony supports AI as a tool, not a replacement: “If there’s ever a time where a patient completely depends on AI without a human in the loop, then we’re way off course.” — Anthony Lee [13:19]
  • Ideal use cases are pre-consultation AI interviews, AI-assisted peer review, question generation for patients, and more — but always with human oversight. [04:31–08:25]

4. AI, Communication, and the Value of Preparation

• Professional Adaptation and Motivation:
  • Anthony observes, “If I don’t do anything with my presentation skills... I think I can still get away with it. But... those who are serious, who know that their reputation is impacted, they adapted.” [14:07]
  • Results-driven feedback, including AI-scored presentation performance, is changing how professionals prepare.
• AI as a Communication Partner and Prompting Coach:
  • “One great thing about AI is it’s forced us to become better communicators. To put in a prompt that is executed well, you have to be a good communicator.” — Anthony Lee [15:40]
  • Ed worries aloud whether AI will make some people lazy or prompt others to upskill — an ongoing tension. [16:03]

5. Trust, Storytelling, and the Art of Speaking

• Anthony’s approach to coaching leaders:
  • Importance of preparation, feedback, and adopting multiple “voices” in communication (contributor, visionary, changemaker, etc.). [23:37]
  • Sharing green room stories with respected speakers:
    • “The opening voice should always be contributor... you take the stage saying, ‘I’m one of you’... and that progresses... to changemaker, where you’re inviting them to action.” — Anthony Lee [24:03]
• Audience empathy as core to persuasive presentations:
  • Relates advice from Lisa Nichols: “If I go on stage, I speak generically, I’m going to suck... I’m literally having a conversation with three people I imagine in the audience.” — Anthony Lee [20:19–21:15]
  • Ed and Saul exchange ideas and jokes about “who’s in your green room” and the importance of peer learning.

6. AI and Value-Based Coaching: The Future of Heroic Voice

• Next evolution at Heroic Voice Academy:
  • Integrating AI mentors with human experts.
  • “Seven voices... if I can get [AI] to recognize the different sets of values, they can play the three voices in the chairs, you can give them a run through and each can give you: Did you land with me?” — Anthony Lee [25:23]
• Forthcoming Book: "The Big Stage Playbook" previewed by Anthony as a guide to his presentation gym methods. [26:14]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the speed of AI disruption:
  “The problem is I don’t think we’re going to have time to absorb the change. It’s happening so fast. That’s the thing I worry about.” — Ed Gaudet [12:14]

• On honesty about AI and jobs:
  “We should not be dishonest about that, because if we are dishonest and it happens, guess what? Trust is gone.” — Ed Gaudet [10:47]

• On the importance of human-AI partnerships:
  “For a patient to completely depend on AI without a human in the loop... we're way off course.” — Anthony Lee [13:19]

• On the future of professional skills:
  “Delivering value is going to be harder and harder. And if we get good sessions, then they're going to keep on coming. Laziness is not an option anymore.” — Anthony Lee [15:04]

• On effective speaking:
  “The opening voice should always be contributor... and that progresses... to change maker, where you’re inviting them to action, it’s a journey.” — Anthony Lee [24:03]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:30–03:45 — Introduction to Heroic Voice Academy, AI knowledge gap between conferences
• 03:45–05:47 — Advancements in AI and the power of stories in healthcare
• 09:37–10:46 — Earning trust: lessons from e-commerce and VeriSign
• 10:46–12:59 — “Telling the whole truth”: honesty about AI job impacts and societal risk
• 13:19–15:28 — Human in the loop: where AI fits and where it shouldn’t in healthcare and presentations
• 15:40–17:10 — Communication skills and prompting: how AI is raising the bar
• 18:09–21:15 — Green room wisdom: stories from notable speakers, empathy, and audience connection
• 23:37–24:29 — The “voices” model for presentation: from contributor to changemaker
• 25:23–26:09 — Heroic Voice Academy’s vision for AI-powered coaching
• 26:14–26:42 — Anthony’s forthcoming book and the value of repeated practice

Tone & Takeaways

The episode blends humor with realism and actionable advice. It encourages honesty about the risks and disruptions posed by AI, the necessity of human-AI collaboration in healthcare, and the critical role of effective, empathetic communication in building trust. Anthony Lee's frameworks (the “green room,” “seven voices,” “preparation gym”) offer simple but powerful tools for professionals facing rapid tech change.

For healthcare and tech leaders:
Prepare to move fast, tell the truth, and invest in communication—not just technical skills. The future of patient safety and trust is a human-AI partnership supported by transparency, empathy, and continual practice.