Generative AI & Critical AI Literacy

Critical AI Literacy

What is Critical AI Literacy? Let's break it down:

First, what is AI Literacy? Generally, this is defined as the ability to understand, apply, and assess AI operations, uses, and outputs. Like information literacy, this requires developing skills to engage with AI effectively and ethically. To be AI-literate means understanding how AI tools work as well as their limitations, opportunities, and implications.

Next, what do we mean by critical? This epithet is borrowed from Critical Information Literacy, which stems from the broader field of Critical Theory. Critical Information Literacy is "a theory and practice that considers the sociopolitical dimensions of information and production of knowledge, and critiques the ways in which systems of power shape the creation, distribution, and reception of information" (Drabinski and Tewell, 2019) [emphasis added]. Critical Information Literacy operates on the notion that information is never neutral; information embodies the biases, values, and assumptions of the social system in which it is produced, disseminated, and interpreted.

Critical AI Literacy, then, places emphasis on the sociopolitical dimensions of AI operations, uses, and outputs as well as their relationship to power. Critical AI Literacy guides us to critically examine the underlying processes and implications of AI, from design to use and beyond.

Projects & Research

• DAIR
• AI Pedagogy Project, metaLAB @ Harvard
• MIT Media Lab