Artificial intelligence can be found just about everywhere nowadays, especially in businesses. Despite this, many people lack essential knowledge about AI, not knowing what it is or does. Worse, most don’t know how to put it to use.
Let’s explore the concept of AI literacy and how it can help you.
What is AI Literacy?
By definition, AI literacy is simply an individual’s capability to understand AI, thinking critically about it and its use. Naturally, as the technology has become more and more prevalent, everyone needs to develop some level of AI literacy… not just tech experts. To make the concept completely clear, think about AI literacy in the same way you would digital literacy… how to safely and effectively use the Internet. AI literacy is the same thing, applied to AI, allowing you to be smart about how you put it to use.
There Are a Few Reasons AI Literacy is So Crucial Nowadays
Businesses especially can benefit from a healthy level of AI literacy, simply because:
- AI has been integrated - A lot of the tools we all use every day—from virtual assistants to social media algorithms to everyday software—have built AI into their experiences, making it critical to know about AI to improve your use of them.
- Jobs are changing - Similarly, AI is shifting how work is done, eliminating some tasks through automation and introducing new processes. Understanding AI will help you shift with it.
- Misinformation is using it too - AI is far from perfect, which means it isn’t always accurate and can easily be used to create deepfakes and otherwise lie to the average user. AI literacy will help you keep ahead of such threats.
- Privacy and security need to be maintained - People hand over a lot of their data nowadays. Understanding AI can help build understanding of how privacy and security can also be impacted by these activities.
How to Build AI Literacy in Your Business
There are some simple means to endorse this kind of awareness in your organization:
- Promote basic understanding - While developers and programmers may need more information about AI, the average user doesn’t, and there are plenty of courses online through platforms like YouTube and Coursera to provide the necessary knowledge.
- Practice - Various tools, like ChatGPT, image generators, and voice assistants, are all very accessible and readily available for users to get used to. This kind of experience will help make the capabilities of such tools much clearer.
- Check its work - Don’t just take any AI response at face value. Consider the validity of the source material and whether there’s a particular bias or slant being applied.
- Stay informed - As AI continues to develop, it will be helpful to stay up to speed via news and industry information to stay abreast of how the technology shapes up.
Make no mistake: AI literacy is a skill that will only become more essential as time passes. Consider this an invitation to become more familiar with it… and to give our team at COMPANYNAME a call when you’re ready to integrate it into your business a little more.