Uncover the future of automation and artificial intelligence with “AI Champions”! Join us on Advertising Champions TV to explore how industry pioneers are leveraging AI to revolutionize business, simplify processes, and enhance customer experiences. Dive into real-world success stories showcasing the transformative power of AI across industries. From cutting-edge tools to practical strategies, discover how AI is shaping the future of work and innovation. Whether you’re curious about machine learning, automation, or AI-driven insights, “AI Champions” delivers the knowledge to help you stay ahead in the age of intelligent technology. Today our host, Mike White, spoke with Kate Bradley Chernis.
Kate Bradley Chernis
Cofounder and CEO at BacklineEQ
Website Address: https://www.backlineeq.com
Short company description:
BacklineEQ is the first Behavioral Intelligence AI. While today’s AI understands what people say, BacklineEQ analyzes the sonic cues between people to understand what they do to one another: whether a message landed, who influenced whom, when trust shifted and what’s likely to happen next. Its proprietary approach, rooted in music theory and radio sound design, analyzes audio first and uses the transcript only to confirm and contextualize what the audio reveals.
If you had one message to get across to future customers, what would it be?
The transcript is not the conversation. What happens between the words can tell you whether your message landed, what changed someone’s behavior and what they’re likely to do next. That’s the intelligence BacklineEQ unlocks.
What differentiates you from the competition?
We analyze conversation as sound, not just words. Our proprietary approach, rooted in music theory and radio sound design, analyzes audio first to reveal human behavior, using the transcript only afterward to confirm and contextualize it.
How is AI transforming the way businesses approach customer engagement and personalization?
AI has made personalization possible at a scale humans could never manage manually. But most AI still personalizes based on what people click, buy or say. The next frontier is understanding how people actually respond. Did the message land? Did engagement increase or drop? Did trust shift? Businesses that can understand those behavioral signals can move from personalizing content to personalizing the interaction itself.
Can you give an example of an AI-powered tool or strategy that’s made a significant impact on your work?
We dogfood BacklineEQ on our own conversations, particularly investor meetings. It analyzes the audio first to show us things a transcript can’t: where someone became more engaged, what changed their behavior, whether an objection actually created more involvement and what they’re likely to do next. That intelligence changes how I approach the next conversation and even how I write the follow-up. What ethical considerations do you keep in mind when integrating AI
What ethical considerations do you keep in mind when integrating AI into your processes?
Behavioral intelligence has to be built with transparency, consent and appropriate safeguards around sensitive data. We also think it’s important not to confuse signals with certainty. AI can identify measurable behavioral patterns and changes, but it shouldn’t pretend to know someone’s private thoughts or reduce a human being to a label. The goal is to give people better information, not take human judgment out of the equation.
What excites you the most about the future potential of AI in your field?
AI has gotten incredibly good at understanding language, but human communication is much bigger than words. Timing, rhythm, hesitation, interruption, pacing, silence and the way people change in response to one another all carry information. I’m excited about giving AI access to that missing layer. Current AI accumulates knowledge. The opportunity now is to build AI that can accumulate experience from how humans actually interact.
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