The Song Need Not Remain the Same: AI Literacies in the Lives of Youth

With greater and greater frequency, we find ourselves in conversations, meetings, and even invitations for writing where the term artificial intelligence (AI) literacy or AI literacies (often used interchangeably) is named as if it had a commonly shared and stable definition. In the contexts of education policy, teacher education, and research on learning, we are experiencing an urgency driven by funders and popular media to solve the “AI Problem” for (not with) youth. This urgency is predicated on the assumption that AI is transforming everything and poses a potential existential threat. AI literacy is seen as a form of power and control; providing AI literacy (to those assumed not to have it) will allow people to regain control over their lives, protect themselves from AI, earn a living, and participate fully in society.