AI Made Simple – Details, episodes & analysis

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AI Made Simple

Valeriya Pilkevich

Business

Frequency: 1 episode/7d. Total Eps: 10

AI Made Simple: The Transformation Series explores how AI is reshaping how organisations work, lead, and scale. Hosted by international AI trainer and speaker Valeriya Pilkevich, the show features conversations with senior leaders, innovators, and practitioners driving real-world AI transformation. Each episode reveals what it really takes to make AI work — from leadership and culture to data, governance, and everyday workflows.

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Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - management
03/04/2026
#95
🇬🇧 Great Britain - management
06/03/2026
#75

Spotify

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Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriya-pilkevich
8 shares
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedikt-floeter/
3 shares
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davedrodge/
3 shares

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RSS feed quality

Good

Score global : 73%

Publication history

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Latest published episodes

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Dr. Benedikt Flöter on Turning AI Regulation Into a Business Advantage

Season 1 · Episode 6

Friday, February 27, 2026 • Duration 33:32

The EU AI Act is live, but most companies are still treating it like another GDPR. It's not. It's a fundamentally different kind of regulation, one that's tied to how your business operates, not just how it stores data.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Benedikt Flöter - Partner at YPOG and head of their AI and Emerging Technologies practice - who advises leadership teams on building legally compliant, scalable AI governance that actually drives business value.

We discuss:

Why two-thirds of companies overestimate their AI risk classification
The governance foundations every organization needs before scaling AI
How a recent German court ruling means your AI-generated content may not be copyright protected
Why AI literacy is now a legal requirement and what "sufficient" actually looks like

Check your company’s AI risk category and compliance obligations here: https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en/eu-ai-act-compliance-checker

Connect with Dr. Benedikt Flöter:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedikt-floeter/
Website: https://www.ypog.law

Connect with Valeriya:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriya-pilkevich
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aimadesimpletalks
Podcast: https://aimadesimple.buzzsprout.com

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Toju Duke on Why Responsible AI Is a Business Strategy, Not a Checkbox

Season 1 · Episode 5

Friday, February 20, 2026 • Duration 30:30

AI is being rolled out at scale across industries - but the safeguards haven't kept up. Bias in AI has improved less than 5% despite years of awareness, agentic AI is amplifying risks faster than companies can manage them, and most organizations still treat responsible AI as a compliance checkbox rather than a strategic advantage.

In this episode of AI Made Simple: The Transformation Series, I'm joined by Toju Duke - AI advisor, author, and former Google Responsible AI lead - who spent a decade at Google before founding Diverse AI, an organization building a 5-million-image dataset to represent communities invisible to current AI systems.

We discuss:

Why AI bias hasn't meaningfully improved and what's blocking progress
The security and accountability risks of deploying AI agents without safeguards
How underrepresented data creates real business risk, from recruitment failures to reputational damage
Why responsible AI should be part of your AI strategy, not a separate initiative

Connect with Toju Duke:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tojuduke/
Website: https://www.tojuduke.com/
Her Books: Responsible AI
Building Responsible Algorithms

Connect with Valeriya:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriya-pilkevich
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aimadesimpletalks
Podcast: https://aimadesimple.buzzsprout.com/

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Tatevik Mkrtchyan on Building Learning Culture at Scale: IKEA's Skills-Based Approach

Season 1 · Episode 4

Friday, February 13, 2026 • Duration 22:17

Most AI training programs fail not because of content, but because they ignore how people actually work. Shop floor employees, scheduled workers, and frontline teams need something radically different from desk-based learning.

In this episode, I'm joined by Tatevik Mkrtchyan, Competence and Leadership Leader at IKEA Germany, who oversees learning strategy for 20,000 coworkers across 54 stores.

We discuss:
• Why AI training fails when it ignores frontline workers and shop floor realities
• How to build AI communities that create movement instead of temporary change projects
• The difference between skills-based organizations and traditional capability models
• When AI avatars and conversational AI make sense for L&D - and when they don't

Connect with Tatevik:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatevik-mkrtchyan-8a59b777/

Connect with Valeriya:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriya-pilkevich/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aimadesimpletalks
Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2558906

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Mila Devenport on AI Literacy, Digital Wellbeing, and the Cognitive Offloading Crisis

Season 1 · Episode 3

Friday, February 6, 2026 • Duration 24:22

Your employees can use AI tools, but do they understand their relationship with them? Most companies focus on "button-pressing skills" while ignoring the deeper question: are we building human capacity or accidentally outsourcing it?

In this episode, I'm joined by Mila Devenport - AI ethicist, founder of Kigumi Group, and certified AI ethics assessor - who has spent over a decade working with digital natives, schools, and enterprises on digital wellbeing and responsible AI use.

We discuss:

Why soft skills and human intelligence matter more than ever in the age of AI
What companies get wrong when recruiting and onboarding AI-native employees
How to prevent cognitive offloading from turning your workforce into algorithm-dependent thinkers
The AI process journal framework that helps people understand where their thinking stops and AI's begins

Connect with Mila:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mila-devenport/
Kigumi Group: https://www.kigumigroup.com

Connect with Valeriya:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriya-pilkevich
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aimadesimpletalks
Podcast: https://aimadesimple.buzzsprout.com

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Ashu Bhatia on Value Engineering and AI Strategy That Actually Works

Season 1 · Episode 2

Friday, January 30, 2026 • Duration 31:32

Most companies invest millions in AI tools but fail because they skip the foundation that makes AI work.

In this episode, I'm joined by Ashu Bhatia - Global Head of Dexian and Season Technology, AI Transformation Leader with 25+ years at Accenture, Microsoft, American Express, and Siemens, and author of "Value Creation" - who reveals why 60-70% of consulting work still focuses on data foundations, not AI deployment.

We discuss:

– Why messy data gets exposed (not fixed) by AI
– The three pillars 95% of organizations overlook when building AI readiness
– Three critical leadership behaviors: clarity, simplification, and prioritization
– How to escape "pilot purgatory" and move AI projects into production

Connect with Ashu Bhatia:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashubhatia/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TechBytesWithAsh
His Book: "Value Creation": https://www.amazon.com/Value-Creation-Information-Technology-Business/dp/1612540368

Connect with Valeriya.

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Nufar Gaspar on Building AI Champions and Agent Readiness at Scale

Season 1 · Episode 1

Friday, January 23, 2026 • Duration 30:39

AI adoption is failing in most organizations - not because of the technology, but because culture, governance, and people enablement often gets ignored.

In this episode, I'm joined by Nufar Gaspar - enterprise AI consultant, former AI leader at Intel where she built a 12,000-member AI champions community, and head of research at Superintelligent - who reveals the exact playbook for building AI capability at scale and preparing for agentic workflows.

In this conversation, we explore:

Why AI ROI comes from improved decision-making and new capabilities, not just efficiency gains
The CHANGE framework for leading AI transformation without stifling innovation or creating chaos
How to structure AI champions and builders across your organization (and why this matters for agent readiness)
The governance sweet spot between being too permissive (creating chaos) and too restrictive (stifling innovation)

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Dave Drodge on Why Imagination Beats Efficiency in AI Adoption

Season 1 · Episode 10

Friday, March 27, 2026 • Duration 28:26

Most companies treat AI as an efficiency play. Cut costs, save time, do more with less. But what if that mindset is exactly what's holding them back?

In this episode, I'm joined by Dave Drodge - digital transformation and AI strategist with 25+ years across Roche, Novartis, Sony, and Amadeus - who argues the real AI opportunity isn't about doing things faster, it's about reimagining what your people and business can become.

We discuss:

Why "human in the loop" often means "person who takes the blame"
How IKEA turned AI-displaced customer service roles into $1.3M in new revenue
The difference between experiment, exploit, and enlightenment in AI adoption
What the EPOCH framework reveals about the skills AI still can't replace

Connect with Dave Drodge: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davedrodge/

Connect with Valeriya:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriya-pilkevich
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aimadesimpletalks

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Tris Papakonstantinou on Why People Distrust AI and What Leaders Can Do

Season 1 · Episode 9

Friday, March 20, 2026 • Duration 30:42

Most organizations treat AI trust as a compliance exercise. Check the box, file the documentation, avoid the fine. But compliance and trustworthiness are not the same thing.

In this episode, I'm joined by Tris Papakonstantinou - cognitive scientist, co-founder of the Digital Trust Council, and PhD researcher at UCL - who studies why people trust or distrust AI and what it actually takes to shift those beliefs.

We discuss:

Why people judge AI on outcomes but judge humans on intentions - and what that means for leaders
The difference between regulatory compliance and genuine AI trustworthiness
How cognitive offloading is quietly eroding critical thinking and decision-making skills
Why the best AI adoption strategies start with framing, transparency, and long-term thinking

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Shakil Awan on Building a 17000-Member Learning Community at Deutsche Telekom

Season 1 · Episode 8

Friday, March 13, 2026 • Duration 21:08

Most companies invest millions in learning platforms - but the best learning communities are often built with zero budget and no permission.

In this episode of AI Made Simple: The Transformation Series, I'm joined by Shakil Awan - Squad Lead and Product Manager for LEX at Deutsche Telekom - who transformed a simple idea into a 17,000-member peer-to-peer learning community with over 6,500 sessions per year.

We discuss:

Why self-organized communities fail without people given charge to lead them
The counterintuitive reason LEX started with yoga sessions, not business topics
What it actually takes to motivate employees to share knowledge voluntarily
How to build learning culture when you have no budget, no project, and no management support

Connect with Shakil Awan:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shakilawan/
LEX: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8754712/?highlightedUpdateUrn=urn%3Ali%3AgroupPost%3A8754712-7422684981958688768&q=highlightedFeedForGroups

Connect with Valeriya:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriya-pilkevich
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aimadesimpletalks
Podcast: https://aimadesimple.buzzsprout.com/

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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Dr. Elisa Konya-Baumbach on the Psychology of AI Acceptance

Season 1 · Episode 7

Friday, March 6, 2026 • Duration 28:34

AI adoption is failing in most organisations - not because of technology, but because of psychology. Even when AI demonstrably outperforms humans, people resist it. The question is: why?

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Elisa Konya-Baumbach - Professor of Consumer Psychology at Bern University of Applied Sciences and Co-Founder of humest - who has spent years researching the irrational human reactions that block AI adoption.

In this conversation, we explore:

The psychology behind AI resistance - including "uniqueness neglect" and why rational arguments don't work
Why most AI training programs fail - and how to design literacy programs that actually drive adoption
How reframing "AI" as "smart technologies" or giving AI assistants names changes employee behaviour
The four levels of AI acceptance - individual, organisational, societal, and technological - and what to fix first

Need help building AI capability in your organization? Book a call.

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AI Made Simple – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

AI Made Simple – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

LinkedIn13

Other8

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

LinkedIn13

Other8

Youtube2