We Are Open Co-op (WAO) is a collective of individuals who share a commitment to ethical, inclusive, and sustainable practices in all aspects of our work, including AI literacy. Our approach to this area is grounded in the belief that AI is an extension of digital literacies, not a separate field. We aim to demystify AI, helping people recognise that the digital literacy skills they already possess are directly applicable to AI.

AI’s societal impacts are significant and well-documented, but the public often struggles to grasp its opportunities and risks. A trusted guide is needed to balance optimism with caution, particularly given AI’s potential effects on jobs, culture, and other critical areas.

The project

We are delighted to have started work on a new project with the Responsible Innovation Centre for Public Media Futures, hosted by the BBC. As an institution with a long and valued history in delivering high quality educational initiatives that help audiences understand and navigate new technologies, we believe the BBC is well placed to help public understanding and engagement with emerging technologies such as AI.

Our focus is research and analysis which aims to find gaps in provision for younger audiences. Over the next few months we’ll be interviewing experts, reviewing resources, and scrutinising frameworks. We will be using this research to create a report along with a framework and guide which will ultimately help the BBC create policies and content for young people. We’ll be sharing an open version of what we create, so look for those in the summer.

Our approach

Starting with desk research, and building on the work we’ve already curated, we’re creating a library of interesting definitions, frameworks, and resources that can help us understand what other people are exploring when it comes to AI Literacy in combination with public media.

As with our work with Friends of the Earth where we researched AI and environmental justice, we will bring together a variety of experts to give feedback and sense check what falls out of some of the research.

Along the way, we’ll share updates based on our findings, so if you know of a person, organisation, initiative, framework, or resource that we should take a look at, please let us know! We’ll also be updating ailiteracy.fyi, our one-stop-shop for all things related to this important topic.