We’re highly convinced Taylor Swift wrote Mastermind about none other than Dr. Ann Burgess (she/her), psychiatric nurse, professor, and pioneer in the assessment and treatment of victims of trauma and abuse. (And after reading this interview, you’ll be convinced, too.) In the docu series Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer—which drops this Thursday!—we finally get her POV on her innovations that changed FBI history forever.

Here, we discussed how (and why) she studied serial killers, the plans she has for AI in the forensics industry, and her advice for the next gen of girls wanting to change the world like she did.

The upcoming documentary explores the critical role you played as a consultant to the FBI in developing modern-day serial killer profiling. What was that like at a time when women did not typically have positions of power?
I’m an academic first and foremost, so I wanted to know what the FBI had learned about the problem at hand, which of course was nearly nothing [laughing]. Female agents didn’t come in until the ‘80s there, and I was used to teaching nurses who were all female back then. What I really noticed were the kinds of questions I got from the male investigators about the research I was showing them, which were very different from the ones I got from the nurses and the crisis workers.

The male investigators were focused on getting a suspect, and so they were interested in my experience in sexual assault, and I mean personal experience. I thought, “Well, if they’re doing this to victims, I can see why victims are not reporting because it’s very intrusive.” But other times they were quiet, so I had to change how I presented things a lot to get their attention whereas with nurses, I could show them anything and they could easily ask questions.

You largely helped discover what signs, behaviors, and patterns to look for in a potential killer. But with the rise of tech, AI, social media, and more, crime and crime-solving could be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Are you noticing changes in relations to that?
Absolutely! We want to use AI as a method to link cases together, and that has been rather exciting to do research already on that. It’s going to be important, especially in the area of mass shooters and things like that. It’s also much easier to put in a thousand pages of survey material or documents rather than having to read them all. Another thing that AI has taught me in the cases we’ve looked at so far is that maybe we’re not asking the right questions. We can help investigators, nurses, or anybody that’s going to be interviewing people by improving our interrogations and inquiries sooner rather than later with this technology.

Do you see offenders using these advanced elements to their advantage as well?
They’re definitely using social media to target, do surveillance, and find victims. Remember, that’s not the way that they were originally taught. Nowadays, they can go on the internet and use their “skills” to entice a woman or a young person to communicate with them online. So we’re having to warn people on what modern techniques they’re using because they like to gather together and form groups to learn from each other. We’re always asking: How can we stay one step ahead of them? And I think AI is going to be one of the ways that we do it.

Over the years, certain murderers have become media celebrities thanks to particular portrayals of them on film. What are your thoughts about thirsting over serial killers?
There are some of these serial offenders that the media plays up and then social media users get involved with that’s just not safe. We have to tell others, especially children and young adults, that they’ve got to be careful because these “bad boy” behaviors they see portrayed on screen and then in individuals that they know in real life could actually be dangerous.

You inspired a world of women to join your line of work. What’s your advice for the next generation of girls who want to do what you do?
Oh, I think it’s a tremendous field. Although I certainly encourage young women to enter into nursing, there’s a wide range of forensic areas. I’m teaching high school students right now, and it’s amazing how well they’re prepared compared to even just five years ago. The more women we get, the more cases can get solved. And faster [laughing].