AI Literacy as a Leadership Competency: Preparing Nurse Executives for Artificial Intelligence Governance

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly integrating into health care delivery, influencing clinical, operational, and strategic decision-making. Nurse executives must therefore possess competencies that enable informed oversight of AI-enabled systems. This article proposes an AI literacy competency framework for nurse executive practice, adapted from existing AI literacy scholarship and aligned with nursing leadership responsibilities. The framework provides a conceptual foundation for integrating AI literacy into leadership competency development, translating theoretical constructs into practice that is aligned with executive decision-making. The framework also defines knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for ethical governance, evaluation, and responsible implementation of AI in health care organizations. In doing so, it offers a structured approach for preparing nurse leaders to guide the responsible adoption and oversight of AI-enabled technologies.