In the early 2000s, understanding how to use the internet became a basic requirement. Today, that baseline has shifted. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept as first introduced 70 years ago by John McCarthy—it is now fully embedded in everyday life.
From the content you see on your phone to the tools used in hiring, healthcare, and finance, AI shapes decisions that affect everyone. Its presence is eerily quiet but constant: it fuels chatbots, powers navigation apps, curates newsfeeds, and even influences legal outcomes.
“Artificial intelligence literacy is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your family today,” insists Alex Eremia, a Bay Area tech executive and former Google product strategist.
Her words echo a growing awareness: if AI touches every corner of society, AI literacy and understanding how it works is no longer optional.
Why It’s Personal—Not Just Professional
Eremia believes the urgency isn’t just about workforce readiness. It’s about personal agency. “We don’t need everyone to be a coder,” she explains. “We need everyone to ask questions. We need everyone to ask the right questions.”
That includes understanding how generative AI tools influence what we see, how algorithms affect everything from mortgage approvals to music recommendations, and why data transparency matters.
“Knowing who trains the models and where the data comes from—these are civic questions, not just technical ones,” Eremia explains.
A Leader in Quiet Revolutions
Eremia’s work has often taken place behind the scenes, where the biggest, most impactful decisions don’t make headlines. At Google, she helped turn the Google Home Mini into a consumer bestseller and restructured legacy data systems across Google Cloud. But for Eremia, impact isn’t about the spotlight but the systems that shape how teams work.
“Sharing data makes teams exponentially smarter,” she notes. In 2022 alone, Eremia mentored more than ten employees at Google, offering guidance on everything from career growth to technical roadmaps. “When people feel informed, they contribute more and that improves the product.”
Where AI and Leadership Meet
One of Eremia’s highest-stakes projects involved coordinating multiple departments on a tight launch deadline. Faced with competing priorities, Eremia created an internal Board of Advisors, giving space for disagreement and alignment: “It’s not always about pushing faster. It’s about asking better questions and creating space for people to answer them honestly.”
That same clarity of thought drives Eremia’s current mission: helping teams, organizations, and communities become fluent in AI literacy. “There’s no neutral ground anymore,” she says. “AI systems are already making decisions that affect your life. Knowing how to evaluate those systems isn’t a luxury. It’s part of citizenship now.”
Preparing for an AI-Driven Future
Eremia now focuses on equipping the next generation—teams, students, and civic leaders—with tools to handle the machine learning systems shaping tomorrow. She sees the stakes as cultural, not just technological.
“Whether it’s generated media, music, or public safety, AI is becoming infrastructure,” she concludes. “The more we know about how it works, the more we can shape what it becomes.”
That’s why AI literacy isn’t just for technologists anymore. It’s for you.
