The British-born entrepreneur Emma Grede, best known as the founding partner of Kim Kardashian\u2019s $5 billion shapewear empire Skims and the CEO of denim brand Good American, has built a reputation on spotting cultural shifts before they hit the mainstream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Grede and Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian\u2019s Good American denim line dropped, it made $1 million on day one, making it the biggest denim launch in apparel history. Grede has helped redefine inclusion in retail and became the first Black female investor on Shark Tank\u2014all before turning 43.<\/p>\n
But for all her business instincts, Grede admits there\u2019s one area where she needed a push\u2014and fellow ex\u2013Shark Tank star Mark Cuban was the one who gave it to her.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive 2025 interview with Fortune, Grede talked about an episode of her hit podcast, Aspire, that hadn\u2019t aired yet, where the two sat down and compared their AI usage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was already kind of getting there, but if I\u2019m really honest, that episode where we really delved into AI gave me a new urgency around how I use AI,\u201d she recalled, adding that Cuban had a staggering 60 AI apps on his phone. \u201cYeah, he gave me a kick.\u201d<\/p>\n
As soon as the recording wrapped up, she said that she started looking into AI courses at the Wharton School and Harvard for the fall. \u201cI need to figure this out, because I\u2019m using AI like a 42-year-old woman,\u201d Grede candidly admitted while laughing.<\/p>\n
Grede gave her staff a cash bonus for using AI\u2014long before she realized she was behind <\/p>\n
Grede isn\u2019t completely new to AI. In fact, she was ahead of the curve when it came to encouraging AI adoption within her companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout two years ago I put a note out in my office giving a cash bonus to anyone that uses AI in their work,\u201d she explained, adding that the incentive was a big hit\u2014especially with the marketing and finance teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt changed the office. It changed the way people presented their work. It changed the way people did their work.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But as her Gen Z and thirtysomething staff embraced experimenting with ChatGPT and other new AI launches at the time, Grede admitted that she perhaps leaned too heavily on them. It meant that until recently, she\u2019s been using AI more as a search engine and leaving her staff to handle the rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Emma, you need to sort that out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes as many other CEOs are scrambling to appoint AI leaders<\/a>, future-proof their business, and brace for change.<\/p>\n Billionaire Microsoft<\/a> cofounder Bill Gates says AI is moving at a speed that \u201csurprises\u201d even him<\/a> and that even if workers learn how to use the latest tech tools, they may still find themselves out of a job<\/a>. Meanwhile, an ex\u2013Google<\/a> exec says CEOs are currently too busy \u201ccelebrating\u201d their efficiency gains to see they\u2019re next on AI\u2019s chopping board<\/a>.<\/p>\n But she\u2019s not using AI to make her more productive<\/p>\n As one of America\u2019s richest self-made women<\/a>\u2014with a reported net worth of nearly $400 million<\/a> and at least four major businesses to her name\u2014Grede is clearly ruthlessly efficient. But in her eyes, AI isn\u2019t about squeezing even more productivity from her day.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m probably the most productive person in the world. I don\u2019t know that I can be \u2026 more productive,\u201d she said, noting that her time is mostly spent making high-stakes decisions\u2014not executing tasks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no amount of AI that can help me with that.\u201d<\/p>\n But where it can help, she said, is in making smarter strategic choices and reshaping how she leads.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a reframing of how we\u2019re going to do things,\u201d Grede added. \u201cSo much of my job is about making really big bets and decisions. And so if I can put data in places to optimize that decision-making, I think that that\u2019s probably where I\u2019m going to be using it most.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you start to think about my role as a merchant and as a planner, it\u2019s really those things that I think are going to fundamentally shift.\u201d<\/p>\n