Short answer: no — but both are essential for healthy & inclusive societies.
(image: Brief History of Printing Press)
I wanted to spend a bit of time digging into the meaning of two words that are often used interchangeably but don’t actually mean the same thing. The reason I wanted to focus on literacy and education is because each is critically important, and both are necessary to ensure that everyone has access to the essential skills needed to be engaged and active citizens, economically and socially, within their communities. And connect those meanings to AI literacy and AI education—terms I hadn’t even encountered back in 2016–2017, when I first began exploring AI and its relationship to computing education. At the time, computing was a space I knew well, having spent over 15 years working across both digital education and technology—but the digital world was being built so quickly, and so too were our roles within it.
Literacy is the building blocks of learning. It is having the skills to understand, transform, and record data into knowledge. Education is the process through which we develop these skills. To acquire and refine them fully, we need access to the right tools (like pencils and paper, calculators and computers) and networks (like mail systems and the internet) to practice and participate.
In many Western systems, literacy starts with learning the ABCs and 123s—first steps to begin reading, writing, and numeracy. Over time, our education progresses and we move from reading isolated data points to interpreting texts, managing finances, understanding maps, and ultimately using our literacy skills to participate fully as active and engaged citizens.
Literacy is having the skills to transfer data into knowledge; knowing how to build with data; and how to communicate with it.
Today, AI literacy is emerging as an essential skill. Building on traditional literacy, it involves developing the skills to understand, interpret, and engage with AI systems. For the first time in human history, we are interacting with another entity that can read, write, and respond—one that is also literate, yet learns, reasons, and operates differently from us. AI literacy means understanding how AI systems collect and process data, how machine learning works, recognising bias in algorithms, and being able to ask: who benefits, who is excluded, and why?
Just as knowing how to read and write enables individuals to read books, write stories, and participate in civic duties, AI literacy empowers people to engage in a digital society where machines are communicating with us, and for us, and creating new content, with us, and without us. Because of the heafty weight of importance and influence, it is why AI literacy must be integrated into our education.
Education is the process that teaches us how to interpret knowledge; guides us in how, when and why to apply it; and supports us in developing the judgment to use it responsibly.
Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned thought leader in education, often reminded us that “education is not a mechanical system; it’s a human system.” It’s about cultivating curiosity, creativity, and capacity—not simply transferring information from one head to another—or, in today’s context, from one machine to another.
UNESCO defines education as a “structured process of learning in which knowledge, values, and skills are transmitted”—formally (through schools and universities), non-formally (through community-based learning), and informally (through life experiences, mentorship, and media).
Therefore, AI education is the structured process of teaching and learning about artificial intelligence. It spans formal instruction in schools and universities, as well as informal learning through workshops, online courses, and community programs. Its goal is to prepare individuals not just to understand AI, but to engage with it critically, ethically, and creatively across different fields and contexts.
Within these systems, AI literacy is taught, refined, and applied. As the need for literacy skills evolves, shaped by economic, political, and social change, education systems must also adapt. This includes strengthening support for schools, libraries, and teacher training, and reimagining learning spaces to accommodate new tools and channels.
Access to both literacy and education has never been equitable. Race, gender, geography, disability, and income have long shaped who learns, what is taught, and how learning is valued. As we enter the early stages of AI, and where we will hear more and more about AI literacy and AI education, we have an opportunity to do things differently. A proactive, collaborative effort across government, industry, and civil society is needed to ensure no one is left behind.
A first step begins with understanding the power and synergies between literacy and education. Because when they work in tandem, they can change the world.
For more: amiliterate.com
Sources:
UNESCO. (2022). Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education.
UNESCO. (2021). AI Competency Framework for Students and Teachers.
Sir Ken Robinson. (2006). Do Schools Kill Creativity? TED Talk.
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