I've spent a decade at the intersection of AI and human change.

My name is William Kearns. I'm a coach, researcher, and builder.

I have a PhD from the University of Washington, where I researched how AI can understand emotional states in text and respond with empathy. I hold two patents in conversational AI for healthcare.

At Headspace, I led the team that built Ebb, a conversational AI companion for anxiety and sleep. It won a Webby Award. Before that, I co-founded two healthcare AI startups and worked directly with patients at UW Medicine, Seattle Children's, and Virginia Mason.

Somewhere along the way, I realized the most interesting problems weren't technical. They were human. How do people change? What makes someone finally take action? Why do smart people get stuck?

I trained as a Mental Health Coach through an NBHWC-accredited program. I started coaching because I wanted to help people the way technology can't: with presence, with honesty, with patience.

Now I do both. I build AI tools that support human growth. And I coach individuals who are navigating the kind of uncertainty I know firsthand.