What is AI Literacy, exactly?
‘Under the overarching policy of advancing digital education, fostering AI literacy among students and teachers takes top priority,’ said Dr. Jac Leung, Lecturer in the Division of Integrative Systems and Design and Director of the AI Literacy Hub at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. ‘When exploring AI, we often focus on “what AI can do”, yet we frequently overlook more important questions such as “how students can make good use of AI” and “what kind of learning experiences are most valuable”.’ In his view, it is only by helping students cultivate critical thinking, adaptability, and sound values while mastering new technologies that they can truly ‘make good use of’ artificial intelligence.
Three Dimensions of AI Literacy
Dr. Leung breaks down AI literacy into three specific core dimensions:
- Understanding the strengths and limitations of AI — knowing its basic operating principles and what it excels at, while also recognizing where it can fail and where data biases may occur.
- Human-AI collaboration — students need to leverage AI to empower their learning based on subject-specific requirements.
- Ethical considerations — data sources, privacy, and integrity should be taught hand-in-hand with subject matter.
How to Learn: AI Literacy is Not Achieved Overnight, But Serves as the Foundation for Life-long Learning
These three dimensions do not happen within a one-off training course. Technology is constantly evolving while we are training. Therefore, AI literacy is actually a life-long learning subject—connecting the dots of understanding concepts, peer exchange, co-designing lessons, practical trial teaching, and reflective revision into a continuous loop. At the level of theory and ‘tool demonstration’, Dr. Leung advocates that educators can participate more in ‘learning circles’, verifying through repeated exchanges and gradually accumulating insights.
How to Teach: Returning Thought and Judgement from Artificial Intelligence to Students
When AI is integrated into the classroom, the role of teachers goes beyond merely telling students when to use artificial intelligence and when to work independently; more importantly, it involves guiding students to demonstrate the ‘process of thinking’, reflecting on and challenging the answers provided by artificial intelligence rather than believing them blindly—this is what true ‘good use’ entails.
‘AI can help us ideate, organise, and write faster, but the purpose of education has never advocated skipping steps in pursuit of the quickest answer,’ said Dr. Leung. Teachers do not need to, nor is it possible for them to, master every single tool. What is truly important, however, is understanding student differences, designing student-centred learning, fostering critical thinking and whole-person development, and shouldering professional and ethical responsibilities in teaching and assessment.
Returning to that initial distinction—the gap between ‘use’ and ‘make good use of’ is precisely separated by AI literacy. What can never be generated by artificial intelligence is how a person thinks, how they choose, and that personal judgement and creativity they hold onto.