What’s the difference between AI literacy and AI fluency - and why does it matter for leaders right now?

Recorded live at MIT during the AI Powered Women Conference, this episode of AI: Voice or Victim breaks down why understanding AI tools is no longer enough. Erica Rooney was joined by Elena Alikhachkina, a global technology and data leader with over 25 years of experience across companies like Dow Jones and Johnson & Johnson.

Together, they explore how AI has been influencing decisions in hiring, healthcare, finance, and content personalization for years - long before ChatGPT entered the spotlight. The real risk today isn’t AI itself, but passive leadership that fails to question, guide, or challenge automated systems.

This conversation is designed for executives, HR leaders, founders, and non-technical decision-makers who need practical clarity on AI without hype or jargon.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The key difference between AI literacy and true AI fluency
• Why AI fluency is a leadership and behavioral skill, not a technical one
• How AI already impacts hiring, recruiting, healthcare, and financial decisions
• Where leaders unknowingly become “victims” of AI systems
• Why curiosity, critical thinking, and asking better questions are future-proof skills
• What it means to manage both human employees and AI-driven systems

If you’re responsible for people, strategy, or organizational decisions, this episode will help you move from reacting to AI - to shaping it with intention.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to AI: Voice or Victim
01:05 Live at MIT: AI-Powered Women Conference
02:10 Meet Elena Alikhachkina
03:40 AI Literacy vs AI Fluency
06:15 AI Before ChatGPT
08:40 AI in Hiring and Recruiting
11:10 When Leaders Become the Victim
13:55 The Three AI Opportunity Zones
17:45 Why Digital Transformations Fail
20:30 Leadership Mindset in the AI Era
24:10 Managing Digital Employees
27:45 Trust, Bias, and Overconfidence
31:10 Curiosity as a Leadership Skill
34:20 Teaching Better Questions
38:00 Human-to-AI Trust
41:15 The Future of AI Leadership
44:10 Elena’s AI Fluency Framework
47:30 Choose Your Role: Voice or Victim
49:00 Closing Thoughts

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