AI Literacy Starts With Us

🧠 AI Literacy Starts With Us

(AI Insights — Part 5)

Last semester, I introduced my students to ChatGPT for one of my classes. For a few, it was their first time using it. One student stared at the screen for a long moment, then turned to me and said, “Ok… what exactly is it?”

That question landed pretty hard. Not because I didn’t know the answer of course - but because it reminded me about how fast everything around us is changing, while many people are still trying to get their bearings. We’re not just teaching people how to use AI. We’re teaching them how to think about it.

AI literacy isn’t just about writing better prompts or knowing which tools are trending. It’s about knowing when to use AI - and when not to. It’s about understanding what it can do, what it can’t, and how it can quietly go wrong without us even noticing. It’s about recognizing bias, calling out hallucination, and questioning the results instead of blindly accepting them just because they sound confident.

And this isn’t just for students or engineers. It’s for teachers figuring out how to assess learning in a world full of auto-generated content. It’s for creatives wondering how to stay original in a sea of remix machines. It’s for anyone trying to live and work with intention while AI reshapes everything from customer service to content creation.

What people need right now isn’t just instruction - it’s guidance. They need people around them who model curiosity, integrity, and the ability to pause and ask, “Should we use AI here?” instead of just, “Can we?”

Because we’re all teachers now. Every time we share a tool, recommend a shortcut, or explain what AI is and isn’t, we’re shaping how others relate to it. And that means literacy isn’t about knowing all the answers. It’s about being willing to ask better questions, stay present in uncertainty, and think with clarity when the world around us moves fast.

This is Part 5 of the AI Insights series - and the final post in this opening arc. Over these five reflections, we’ve looked at what AI is, how fast it’s growing, why misunderstanding it is risky, what it means to stay human, and how to teach others to use it wisely.

But AI isn’t just a concept to study - it’s a tool that can help people right now.

So as this part of the series wraps up, I’ll be shifting focus toward practical, real-world ways people are using AI to work smarter, create more freely, and navigate this evolving landscape with intention - no PhD required.

Because it’s not enough to understand the technology.
We need to use it - in ways that reflect who we are, and what we value.
And we need to keep doing what humans do best: learn, adapt, and look out for each other.

Thanks for following along.
Let’s keep building the future together, and wide awake.

#AI #AIInsights #FranklySpeaking #DigitalWisdom #EverydayAI #HumanCenteredAI #AIEthics #LeadershipInTech #AIForGood