How AI literacy impacts the future of work and education

AI-based technologies are having a significant impact on every industry, automating tasks, improving efficiency, and enabling innovation, fundamentally changing how various sectors operate.

This, in turn, affects our daily life by introducing new products and services, optimising processes, and providing more accurate experiences.

Higher education has a role to play preparing the future professionals who will take on upcoming innovations. This is why AI literacy skills have become an undeniable need in university curriculums.

Without AI literacy skills, future grad students will find it hard to compete for in-demand graduate-level jobs

New graduates who are not AI literate will find it hard to find graduate-level jobs. Graduates need to be prepared with the right skills and tools to face the world in the AI era.

For this reason, universities must be ready to adapt and provide more AI literacy training to their students in all disciplines.

Education institutions need to train their students to live and work in a society where they must interact with Artificial Intelligence in one way or another in both work and personal life.

We have reached a point where AI literacy is not any longer an option but a requirement for most in-demand jobs.

In education, AI literacy must comprise both a hands-on learning experience and a theoretical perspective.

Generative AI and higher education

Since its launch, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its subsequent versions and competitors have generated an increasing interest in Artificial Intelligence.

In fact, Generative AI has become the most relevant contribution to the acceleration of AI mainstream adoption.

As we embark and utilise AI-based technologies and Generative AI such as ChatGPT more frequently and realise also about their ethical issues, both students and faculty must have certain knowledge and skills about AI in order to face the challenges.

Moving from digital literacy to AI literacy

In the educational sector, there is an imminent shift from digital literacy to AI literacy. The fundamental question of what makes a human AI literate is currently in a state of evolution.

Yet, AI literacy is something that every student must be exposed to, and I would say, every student from a very young age, indeed.

AI literacy does not belong only and exclusively to those who are on a computer science path but must include everyone. In the same way, AI literacy must be included in every level of education, way before college.

AI literacy: A fundamental pillar in education

Those who will remain AI illiterate in the future, will have less opportunities.

AI must be incorporated into every course and curriculum in order to reflect the AI era we live in, to have a better understanding of the world around us, and to be aware of its impact on everyday life.

Future professionals, even those who are not computer scientists, mathematicians, or AI engineers will have to interact with these new technologies on a daily basis.

AI literate is someone who possesses the ability to understand, use, monitor, and critically reflect on AI applications without necessarily being able to develop AI models themselves.

A frequently cited definition of AI literacy was developed by Long and Magerko (2020), who define it as:

“A set of competencies that enables individuals to critically evaluate AI technologies, communicate, and collaborate effectively with AI, and use AI as a tool online, at home, and in the workplace.”

Governments are supporting AI literacy with free programs

Many governments have recognised the need for AI literacy programs; a few free government-supported programs are currently available, including:

• Elements of AI from Finland, created by MinnaLearn and the University of Helsinki (available in English and other languages), aiming to strengthen AI literacy for global non-experts. It is available to anyone in the world.

• The AI Campus from Germany, developed by the Humboldt University of Berlin, the FernUniversität in Hagen, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW), and other partners (available in English and German). This is a learning platform focused on learners that specifically addresses the needs of individual sectors such as the use of AI in medicine.

Both learning platforms for AI are available free of charge.

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