AI literacy
Definition
AI literacy concerns the competencies people use to evaluate AI, work with it, and use it in their lives.
Explanation
Long and Magerko’s definition includes “critically evaluate AI technologies” and “communicate and collaborate effectively with AI.” Their broader account also includes using AI in everyday and workplace settings. I use that framing to connect checking an answer with understanding the system that produced it.
For a mathematical proof, we can ask two related questions: does this step follow, and what gives us reason to rely on this tool for the task? Learning to operate a chatbot does not settle either question.
Gu and Ericson’s review examined 124 studies, with its search extending through July 2024. In the category focused exclusively on AI tools, the authors identified two critical-literacy intervention designs that had not yet been deployed in educational settings. Other categories included work that combined tool use with technical or sociocultural perspectives. The finding describes a particular gap in that review, rather than the absence of classroom work on critical evaluation.
Scope and evidence
This is an established area of research. My studies apply an AI literacy framing; they do not introduce the concept. The review describes the literature available within its search period.
Related concepts
Hallucination autopsy procedure · Collaborative prompting · Calibrated trust