The AI Mixtape

Women's jobs are three times more likely to be automated by AI — yet women are using AI 25% less than men. In this episode Katie Branley and Dr. Ericka Pitman dig into the gap, why even experienced AI users feel like the tool is running the show, and eight no-skip rules to make sure you stay the authority in every conversation you have with AI.What's Inside:The Reese Effect — Why Reese Witherspoon's Instagram post hit a nerve and what the stats behind it actually mean for your careerYour Brain vs. AI — The Caltech research that explains why AI feels so overwhelming (it's biology, not a personal failure)Rule 1: Your Ideas First — Why going straight to AI is killing your best thinking, and the reverse prompting flip that fixes itRule 2: Context is Everything — AI is a prediction machine. Without your context it's just filling in blanks.Rule 3: Own Your Voice — How to stop getting generic outputs by defining what words like "professional" actually mean before you promptRule 4: Push Back — You are allowed to tell AI it is wrong. Here is how.Rule 5: The Goldilocks Check — Your professional reputation is on the line. Always be the last set of eyes.Rule 6: Protect Your Data — The postcard rule, free vs. pro vs. enterprise, and what AI is actually doing with what you typeRule 7: Right Tool for the Job — More AI output is not always better. Your expertise is the filter.This Week's Mixtape Rules:Brain dump your own ideas before you open AI — you are the creative oneGive AI your context: who you are, what you want, what you don't wantDefine your terms before you prompt — don't let AI decide what professional means for your brandPush back. Tell it when it's wrong. Ask where it got its information.Always do a final human check before anything goes outThink postcard — never type anything into AI you wouldn't want everyone to readAsk yourself if AI is actually the right tool before you open itWant to Work With Us? If you are ready to bring AI into your work or your organization in a way that actually makes sense, we would love to talk. Visit us at empoweredailearning.com to learn more about our courses, workshops, and consulting. Subscribe to our Substack for weekly AI insights between episodes.Website: empoweredailearning.com Substack: empoweredai.substack.comConnect With Us: Have a question, a topic you want us to cover, or an AI win you want to share? Reach out — we want to hear from you.Contact: [email protected] Mixtape — where you understand the AI, and you stay human.

You're paying $20 a month and suddenly your AI is cutting you off mid-afternoon. You're not imagining it. In March 2026, Anthropic and Google quietly changed how many tokens you get — no press release, no announcement. In this episode Katie Branley and Dr. Ericka Pitman break down what a token actually is, why the era of unlimited AI is ending, and four rules you can use right now to make your plan go further.What's Inside:What Is a Token — The unit of AI computation explained in plain language, and why your $20 plan is not as unlimited as you thoughtWhy Limits Changed — How usage shifted from simple chat to multi-page documents, agents, and workflows — and why the big AI companies quietly hit the brakes in March 2026Track Your Usage — How to find Claude's gas gauge in your settings and what Gemini is suspiciously not showing youThe Off-Peak Advantage — Why your tokens burn faster between 8am and 2pm Eastern and how to schedule your heavy AI work around itRight Model for the Job — Opus vs. Sonnet vs. Haiku, and why you don't need a sports car to pick up groceriesStart Fresh — Why that giant running chat is costing you thousands of tokens every time you ask a new question, and the smarter way to workThis Week's Mixtape Rules:Check your usage gauge in Claude settings — know your tank levelSchedule heavy AI work outside peak hours, after 2pm or before 8am EasternMatch the model to the task — save Opus for the hard stuffStart a new chat instead of letting one conversation run foreverWant to Work With Us? If you are ready to bring AI into your work or your organization in a way that actually makes sense, we would love to talk. Visit us at empoweredailearning.com to learn more about our courses, workshops, and consulting. Subscribe to our Substack for weekly AI insights between episodes.Website: empoweredailearning.com Substack: empoweredai.substack.comConnect With Us: Have a question, a topic you want us to cover, or an AI win you want to share? Reach out — we want to hear from you.Contact: [email protected] Mixtape — where you understand the AI, and you stay human.

Just because your company doesn't have an AI policy doesn't mean you shouldn't. In this episode, Katie Branley and Dr. Ericka Pitman — the AI Implementation Ladies and founders of Empowered AI Learning — break down the reality of the 2026 AI landscape, where 91% of companies use AI but only 37% provide any formal guidance on keeping data safe. Learn the Postcard Principle for prompting, why your browser extensions are hidden back doors, and how to treat your AI settings like your dental health. It's all about the hygiene.In This Episode: The Hasbro Breach — The April 2026 data breach and why digital toys put your family's data at riskThe Postcard Principle — Why you should never put anything in a prompt you wouldn't write on a public postcardShadow AI — The risks of using personal accounts for work and the updated Brenda from accounting phishing trap Tech Hygiene Audit — A 15-minute quarterly checklist to secure your settings and extensions Retention Comparison — Which platforms delete your data in 90 days vs. those that keep it foreverPolicy Guardrails — Using state frameworks like California and Illinois to guide your personal AI workflow before your company doesResources Mentioned:Hasbro SEC Form 8-K Filing — April 1, 2026IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025Search: Shadow AI risks for more on hidden extensionsSearch: your state + AI policy — California, Illinois, Texas, and North Carolina are good starting pointsSearch: your professional organization + AI guidelinesFind Us: 🌐 Empowered AI Learning 📰 Substack: EmpowerED AI with Dr. ErickaAI Mixtape — where you understand the AI, and you stay human. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe so you never miss one. — Katie & Dr. Ericka, The AI Implementation Ladies