What It Means to Be “AI Literate” When You’re Not Technical
In this episode of Empowered by AI, Michelle Muncy-Silva talks with Katie Milton Jordan about what real AI adoption looks like when you stop chasing tools and start investing in people, processes, and clarity.
Katie shares her work helping economic development leaders operationalize AI responsibly, explains why “not knowing what you don’t know” is the biggest barrier to adoption, and walks through a live, practical workflow for creating a personal AI policy. This episode is especially relevant for leaders, solo operators, and women navigating AI adoption under real-world constraints like limited time, budget, and bandwidth.
Time-Stamped Discussion Highlights
00:00 – Introduction and Katie’s work in economic development and AI
01:00 – Why most organizations don’t actually “get AI wrong”
02:10 – The role of hype, FOMO, and pressure from stakeholders
02:45 – The three AI investment buckets: products, projects, and people/processes
04:00 – Why leaders usually invest in the wrong order
05:00 – Bandwidth, leadership fatigue, and skepticism around AI trends
06:20 – Venture Fest and what partnering with AI made possible
07:00 – Using AI to amplify impact with no time, no budget, and small teams
08:00 – AI as copilot, not driver, and why human relationships still matter
09:40 – Reducing operational burden to reinvest in human work
10:40 – The cost of misalignment and moving faster in the wrong direction
11:30 – Failing faster, tighter feedback loops, and intentional iteration
12:20 – Checking your internal compass in times of rapid change
13:00 – Nervous system regulation, boundaries, and avoiding AI burnout
14:00 – Why whole humans need to be considered in AI adoption
15:00 – Introduction to personal AI policies and leadership guardrails
16:00 – Live walkthrough: what a personal AI policy workflow includes
17:00 – AI red lines and ethical boundaries
18:30 – Client transparency and accountability when using AI
22:00 – Quality standards, verification, and signing your name to AI-assisted work
24:00 – Bias checks and prompting AI to critique its own assumptions
26:00 – Workforce impact, reskilling, and augmentation vs replacement
28:00 – Societal responsibility and non-negotiable red lines
29:00 – Generating a personal AI manifesto and why workflows matter
30:30 – Final reflections and how to connect with Katie
You can watch the Mason County Venture Fest video here
Watch the full episode and see the live workflow demo on YouTube:
youtube.com/@EmpoweredbyAISLAI
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