AI Literacy Is on the Rise in the United States

Implementing America's AI Action Plan, the U.S. has launched its first federal AI literacy framework. Here is what you need to know | Edition #274

Loomis Radio School in Washington, D.C., 1920s (modified)

👋 Hi everyone, Luiza Jarovsky, PhD, here. Welcome to the 274th edition of my newsletter, trusted by more than 90,900 subscribers worldwide.

As the old internet dies, polluted by low-quality AI-generated content, you can always find raw, pioneering, human-made thought leadership here. Thank you for helping me make this a leading publication in the field.

---

🎓 Now is a great time to learn and upskill in AI. If you are ready to take the next step, here is how my Academy can help you:

• Join the 28th cohort of my AI Governance Training (9 seats left)

• Discover your next read in AI and beyond in my AI Book Club

• Join our AI Ethics Paper Club’s group discussion tomorrow

• Sign up for free educational resources at our Learning Center

• Subscribe to our Job Alerts for open roles in AI governance

---

AI Literacy Is on the Rise in the United States

Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor launched its AI literacy framework, the country's first federal-level initiative of its kind.

The main purposes of the framework are to: a) support federal bodies in designing their AI literacy programs; and b) encourage AI literacy training across the public workforce and education systems.

This is a voluntary AI literacy framework to be applied broadly at the federal level across both professional and educational realms.

It will likely also influence the private sector, both inside and outside the United States, serving as a guideline for companies designing their AI literacy programs, schools designing their AI literacy curricula, and vendors tailoring their AI literacy offerings.

As expected, the U.S. approach to AI literacy differs from the one advanced by Europe in the EU AI Act, for the reasons I explain below.

-

Before discussing specific aspects of the framework, it is important to note that it must be read alongside two other broader AI frameworks published over the past few months: America's AI Action Plan and America's Talent Strategy.

In the AI Action Plan, one of the tasks under “accelerate innovation” is to support a ‘worker-first’ AI agenda by expanding AI literacy and skill development, assessing AI's impact on the labor market, and retraining workers.

In the Talent Strategy, the plan focuses on addressing the workforce needs of American companies and upskilling workers. AI literacy must be understood here as a skill development effort.

-

The AI literacy framework defines AI literacy as:

“A foundational set of competencies that enable individuals to use and evaluate AI technologies responsibly, with a primary focus on generative AI, which is increasingly central to the modern workplace.”

Despite using the broader term ‘AI,’ the framework is based on generative AI challenges and focuses on preparing workers to understand and use generative AI tools.

The framework makes it clear that AI literacy should be seen as a baseline understanding of AI that will help people engage with AI tools professionally.

However, many specialized jobs, especially those directly involved in building and implementing AI systems, will require additional skills and competencies beyond those covered by most AI literacy programs.

AI literacy programs should be personalized and tailored to the specific contexts, audiences, and tasks.

For workers, the AI literacy framework should help them build new skills independently, experiment with AI, understand when it might or might not be helpful in professional contexts, and adapt to ‘AI-enabled’ contexts.

For employers, an AI literacy framework can support effective and responsible AI deployment among existing employees and new hires, and empower managers to gradually, adaptively, and responsibly shape AI adoption.

For education providers, this framework can help them design their curricula, guiding decisions on what content to teach and how to assess competency.

It is explicitly stated that the framework is not static and will be updated in response to technological advances, labor market changes, and implementation feedback.

Let us take a look at each of the five foundation content areas and the seven effective delivery principles of AI literacy: