AI Literacy
The question isn't whether students will use AI. It's whether they'll know how to use it well.
Understand AI
Know what AI can do, and where it can still be wrong.
Question AI
Check an answer before treating it as true.
Use it responsibly
Privacy, academic integrity, and when not to use AI.
Quick answer
AI literacy is the knowledge and skills people need to understand, evaluate, use, and create with artificial intelligence. It is broader than prompt engineering, knowing ChatGPT, or learning to code.
Student framework
AI literacy isn't one skill. It's a set of skills students build over time. What Should Students Know About AI?
01
AI is technology created by people. It can recognize patterns and generate answers, but it doesn't know everything — so students should ask what it's doing, what it's good at, and where it might be wrong.
02
A confident answer isn't a true one. Students learn to ask how they know it's true, what might be missing, and what they should check.
03
Hands-on practice means clear prompts, useful context, follow-up questions, and using AI to brainstorm, practice, and get feedback. The skill is knowing when AI is actually useful.
04
Speed doesn't make an answer correct. Students check accuracy, sources, and other perspectives — especially for research, writing, and decisions that matter.
05
Students can use AI to develop stories, build games, write code, and turn ideas into projects. Their imagination, decisions, and direction stay at the center.
06
AI use connects to privacy, academic integrity, copyright, safety, and misinformation. The question isn't only whether AI can do something. It's whether a student should use it.
An AI-literate student understands that AI can be incredibly useful — and still get things wrong. AI literacy is a life skill, not just a technology skill.
Understand what AI can and can't do before you rely on an answer.
Check important information instead of accepting the first answer.
Notice when an answer is wrong, incomplete, or one-sided.
Know what should stay private.
Use it appropriately, and understand academic integrity.
Use AI without giving up the work, and decide when it shouldn't be used.
Why it matters
Students aren't waiting for the AI future. They're already growing up in it.
AI is part of the tools they use to search, learn, create, code, play, and communicate.
A student can ask AI to
That access creates enormous opportunities. It also creates a new responsibility: students need to understand the technology they're using.
The opportunity
The catch
Sounds sure"The Eiffel Tower was finished in 1902." It was 1889.
It can:
The more capable AI becomes, the more important it is for students to know when to
By grade
Students don't need the same AI education at every age.
What a third grader needs to understand about AI is different from what a high school senior needs to know.
Understand AI and use it safely.
Elementary · The goal
Build curiosity and healthy skepticism.
Prompting is useful, but it isn't the whole skill. A student can write an excellent prompt and still believe everything AI tells them.
Communicate clearly with AI.
Challenge the response.
Judge whether the output is reliable.
Check important information against other sources.
Use AI to develop their own ideas.
Know when AI should and shouldn't be used.
Take responsibility for the work and decisions they make with AI.
AI has changed what it means to do schoolwork independently. The useful question for schools isn't “Can students use AI?” It's “How should students use AI?”
The difference comes down to one thing: whether AI is helping a student learn or helping them avoid learning.
Supports learning
Replaces learning
Supports learningAsking AI to explain a concept you're stuck on
Replaces learningAsking AI to do the assignment for you
Supports learningGetting feedback on a draft you wrote
Replaces learningSubmitting AI-generated writing as your own
Supports learningAsking AI why your code isn't working
Replaces learningCopying code you don't understand
Supports learningUsing AI to brainstorm ideas, then choosing your own
Replaces learningLetting AI make every decision in a project
Supports learningChecking AI's answer against your textbook or notes
Replaces learningTrusting the first answer without checking
Rules alone don't settle this. Students need to understand why the line matters: the point of an assignment is the thinking it builds, and AI can't do that thinking for them.
Set clear expectations
Say when AI is allowed, when it isn't, and how students should disclose it, ideally assignment by assignment.
Design for thinking
Assignments that ask for process, reflection, or personal connection are harder to hand off and more valuable to complete.
Practice the gray areas
Talk through real scenarios with students instead of only posting a rule.
AI literacy and academic integrity go hand in hand. Read our academic integrity guide
For schools
Seven moves that work whether you start in one classroom or across a district.
An AI platform made only for kids and teens, with age-appropriate answers and safeguards. It's a learning tool, not a companion app.
Students ask, research, write, code, and create with AI, practicing the six AI literacy skills inside real schoolwork instead of a separate lesson.
Educators can open a student's conversation and see the prompts and replies, so teachers can guide good habits instead of guessing.
Socratic, hint-first help keeps a clear line between getting help and handing in AI's work, so students learn to use AI honestly.
Safety alerts go to a teacher or admin right away, so the right adult can step in when it matters.
School accounts can be personalized to your school's values and mission, including faith-based schools.
FAQ
