Who does AI literacy empower? Critical examination of AI literacy frameworks in Higher Education

This project was a successful recipient of CAIDE's 2026 seed funding round.

AI literacy is seen as ‘empowering’ by both enthusiasts and critics of AI integration into educational settings. An AI-literate student can better use and engage with AI critically and ethically. Universities are in a unique position where on one hand there is pressure to promote the use of AI to produce job-ready graduates and on the other there is pressure to constrain AI from an academic integrity standpoint. To mitigate these competing priorities, universities have put forward AI literacy frameworks that aspire to guide students’ use of GenAI. The current landscape of AI Literacy promotes a view that is predominantly concerned with how to use AI effectively and in compliance with university policies. In this project, we strive to move towards an AI literacy framework that is more democratic and critical thereby enabling students to question, resist, reject, or reshape AI technologies.

Researching team

This project is led by Prof Shanton Chang (School of Computing and Information Systems), Dr Rashika Bahl (School of Computing and Information Systems), Dr Samantha Kaye-Johnston (Faculty of Education), Dr Sarita Rosenstock (School of Computing and Information Systems), Dr Cynthia Sear (School of Social and Political Sciences), PhD Candidate, Mr Davor Petreski (School of Computing and Information Systems), PhD Candidate Mr Joshua Rose (School of Social and Political Sciences).