AI literacy: "the knowledge, skills, and attitudes associated with how artificial intelligence works, including its principles, concepts, and applications, as well as how to use artificial intelligence, including its limitations, implications, and ethical considerations"

media literacy: "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and use media and information and encompasses the foundational skills that lead to digital citizenship"

digital citizenship: "a diverse set of skills related to current technology and social media, including the norms of appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior"

(AB-2876 & SB 1288, California Ed. Code, 2024)

"Incorporate digital literacy and citizenship into lessons, including technical skills, privacy safeguards, and the ethical use of social media, copyrighted materials, and artificial intelligence (AI)" 

(Standards for the Teaching Profession, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2024)

The concept of critical GenAI literacy is derived from the tradition of critical literacy as “both a narrative for agency as well as a referent for critique,” leading to critical consciousness and liberation (Freire & Macedo, 1987), which extends to: 

• critical digital literacy as “practices that lead to the creation of digital texts that interrogate issues of power, representation, and agency in the world and critically interrogate digital media and technologies themselves” (Bacalja, Aguilera, & Castrillón-Ángel, 2021).

• critical media literacy as “analysis of the dominant ideology and an interrogation of the means of production…is an inquiry into power, especially the power of the media industries and how they determine the stories and messages to which we are the audience" (Butler, 2021).

• critical AI literacy as “developing awareness of social justice issues and cultivating in learners a disposition to redress them” (Bali, 2024) and “the capacity to analyze, critique, and transform AI’s critical implications; disrupting the commonplace, considering multiple viewpoints, and focusing on the sociopolitical, and taking action” (Veldhuis, Lo, Kenny, & Antle, 2025).

• critical GenAI literacy to “decipher fact from misinformation and disinformation, identify claims perpetuated by bots and deepfakes, counter messages and systems that reinforce stereotypes and harm, and explore new ways of learning…with a focus on ethics, connections to ethnic studies, and critical civic inquiry” (Elemen, 2024). 

AI in California State Standards & Frameworks (California Department of Education):

• Learning With AI, Learning About AI (2023) Resource Kit (2024)

  • "Artificial Intelligence (Al) permeates our daily lives, from virtual assistants to social media algorithms...Educate students about how Al collects data on social media and its impact on how they feel and interact online."

• Computer Science Standards (2018) 9-12.IC.26 

  • Students "Study, discuss, and think critically about the potential impacts and implications of emerging technologies on larger social, economic, and political structures, with evidence from credible sources” (P7.2).

• English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework (2014) 

  • Chapter 10, "Learning in the 21st Century" cites the Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (2010) and includes standards related to the ethical, legal, and safe use of information in print, media, and online resources for every grade level. 

• History-Social Science Framework (2016)

  • "Students should also discuss the responsibility of citizens to be informed about public issues by using the various media wisely" (p. 449).

  • "Describe the roles of broadcast, print, and electronic media, including the Internet, as means of communication in American politics” (Standard 12.8.2).

Resources

• AILit Framework (TeachAI)

• PISA 2029 Media and Artificial Intelligence Literacy 

• AI Literacy Framework (Digital Promise)

• AI Learning Priorities for All K-12 Students (CSTA & AI4K12)

• Guidance for the Future of Computer Science Education in an Age of AI (TeachAI & CSTA)

• Grade Band Progression Charts: Societal Impact (AI4K12) 

• AI Literacy Curriculum Hub 

• Day of AI Curriculum

• AI Toolkit for School Districts (Common Sense Education) 

• AI+ Learning Differences (Stanford Accelerator for Learning)

• What California Districts are Trying, Building, and Learning with AI (CRPE)

• The Race, Abolition, and AI Program: Empowering Young People to Navigate the Intersection of Race and Technology (Connected Wellbeing Impact Studio)

• MIT RAISE (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education) Initiative

  • AI Policymaking Club for High School 

• Digital Civics Club (Civics of Technology)

Cultivating critical AI literacy with a focus on ethics, connections to ethnic studies and critical civic inquiry can inspire movement toward social justice. Students can deepen their critical AI literacy while studying topics such as: algorithmic bias and harm, emotion and affect recognition, surveillance, datafication, labor practices, environmental impact, economic trade-offs, emerging transformative uses of AI, policy and regulation. These are anchored in state content standards and curriculum frameworks with interdisciplinary and co-design approaches. They also align to the ISTE Standards addressing digital citizenship for students, educators, and education leaders as equity and citizenship advocates. 

The following lessons are provided as a unit on California Educators Together with these corresponding essential questions:

• AI Bias & Harm 

  • How is artificial intelligence (AI) used in ways that reinforce bias and prejudice?

• AI Environmental Impact 

  • How does using GenAI impact the environment and what should we do about it?

• AI, Media & Politics

  • How is AI used to influence public opinion of political issues?

Resources:

• Digital Citizenship Week (California Department of Education)

• Digital Citizenship Lessons & Digital Citizenship in Education (ISTE)

• Digital Citizenship Curriculum (Common Sense Education)

  • Generative AI Chatbots

  • Social AI Companions

• “There’s a Better Way to Teach Digital Citizenship” (Education Week)

• Critical Digital Citizenship (Civics of Technology Project) 

• 9 Ways AI is Shaping School Communications (District Administration)

• Guide to Evaluating AI Generated Content (Markup AI)

• Professional Learning (CLEAR)

• Ethical AI: The Skills and Knowledge Equity Leaders Need (21CSLA, 2025)

• Value-Centered Design Ethics in Education (U.S. Department of Education, 2024, p. 37)

  • General Ethics Themes

• Transparency

• Justice and Fairness

• Non-maleficence

• Responsibility

• Privacy

• Beneficence 

• Freedom and Autonomy

• Education Ethics Themes

  • Pedagogical Appropriateness

  • Children’s Rights

  • AI Literacy

  • Teacher Well-Being

  • Equitable Instruction & Access

• AI in Education Guidance and Policy Tracker

• California Policy + New AI and Social Media Laws

• 21CSLA Research-Practice Webinar “Possibilities and Problems of Generative AI as a Resource for Learning” (2024)

• 21CSLA Research-Practice Webinar “Bugs, Bots, and Algorithmic Bias: Examining the Power and Peril of AI in Education” (2025) 

  • Dr. Tiera Tanksley’s framework for critical AI literacy is grounded in the dual nature of abolition: destruction followed by new growth, critique paired with freedom dreaming, and building hope. The three tenets that undergird her approach to critical AI literacy are: 

• • • Fostering socio-technical consciousness: Make sense of everyday experiences with digital and algorithmically-mediated racism.

    • Developing socio-technical resistance: Critically navigate, resist, and subvert algorithmic racism in everyday technologies.

    • Encouraging socio-technical freedom dreaming: Reimagine and dream up counter-technologies that protect and sustain Black life, joy, and wellness on a techno-structural and sociotechnical level…

• CLEAR AI Initiative

• Ethics of AI involves the study of “bias and discrimination, environment, truth and academic integrity, copyright, privacy, datafication, affect recognition, human labor, and power” (Furze, 2025) + 

  • AI Competency Framework for Teachers (UNESCO, 2024): "human rights, human agency, promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity, inclusion and environmental sustainability" (p. 29) ... "data privacy, intellectual property rights and other legal frameworks" (p. 34) ... "sociocultural and environmental concerns in the design and use of AI, and contributing to the co-creation of ethical rules for AI practices in education" (p. 39)

• AI Competency Framework for Students (UNESCO, 2024): "students as AI co-creators and responsible citizens… emphasizes critical judgement of AI solutions"

  • Ethics of AI - Embodied Ethics: Students are expected to be able to develop a basic understanding of the ethical issues around AI, and the potential impact of AI on human rights, social justice, inclusion, equity and climate change within their local context and with regard to their personal lives. They will understand, and internalize the following key ethical principles, and will translate these in their reflective practices and uses of AI tools in their lives and learning:

• Do no harm: Evaluating AI’s regulatory compliance and potential to infringe on human rights

• Proportionality: Assessing AI’s benefits against risks and costs; evaluating context- appropriateness

• Non-discrimination: Detecting biases and promoting inclusivity and sustainability (understanding AI’s environmental and societal impacts) 

• Human determination: Emphasizing human agency and accountability in AI use

• Transparency: advocating for the rights of users to understand AI operations and decisions

• Ethics of AI - Safe and Responsible Use: Students are expected to be able to carry out responsible AI practices in compliance with ethical principles and locally applicable regulations. They are expected to be conscious of the risks of disclosing data privacy and take measures to ensure that their data are collected, used, shared, archived and deleted only with their deliberate and informed consent. They are also expected to be conscious of typical AI incidents and the specific risks of certain AI systems, and be able to protect their own safety and that of their peers when using AI. 

• Ethics of AI - Ethics by Design: Students are expected to be able to adopt an ethics-by-design approach to the design, assessment and use of AI tools as well as the review and adaptation of AI regulations. Students are expected to be aware that the assessment and ratification of the intent of the AI design should start from the conceptualization stage and cover all steps of the AI life cycle. Students should be able to apply parameters to assess the compliance of an AI tool with ethical regulations and use an ethical matrix of multi-stakeholders to review AI regulations and inform adaptation.

• Societal Impacts of AI to “evaluate how AI use impacts an individual’s decision making and other behavior; evaluate the intended and unintended impacts of AI on society (e.g., deep fakes, job loss) — including government, education, entertainment, culture, careers, and national security — while considering how these impacts may differ among diverse communities; and design ways to minimize negative environmental impacts of AI and communicate those ways to others” (CSTA & AI4K12, 2025). The “SCOPE Framework of AI Literacy” expands upon the “societal perspectives of AI, collaborative inquiry with AI, objective analysis, practical decision-making with AI, and ethical considerations in AI” within a social studies context” (Hammond, Pan, & Oltman, 2025, pp. 99-104). 

• Resources

  • Hand in Hand: Schools’ Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks to Students (Center for Democracy and Technology)

  • U.S. High School Students’ Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence: New Evidence from High School Students, Parents, and Educators (College Board)

  • California Student Privacy Alliance Resource Page (CITE) 

  • K-12 Gen AI Maturity Tool (CoSN/CGCS)

  • Emerging Technology Adoption Framework: For PK-12 Education (Digital Promise)

  • AI Ethics & Policy News (Casey Fiesler)

  • A Critical Check-Up: The Impacts of AI on Community Health (GovAI Coalition)

  • Generative AI in Education (Padlet)

  • Report on AI literacy among Gen Z demonstrates the need for ethics: "How can we upskill Gen Z as fast as we train AI?" -Beatriz Sanz Sáiz, EY (2024)

• “GenZ placed very low emphasis on ethics when it comes to AI implementation...

• 55% of GenZ learn about AI from social media

• 35% from news articles

• Only 14% from educators

• And just 12% from employers

• The reality? Many employers and educators aren't AI literate yet. Some workplaces and schools aren't even talking about AI... So GenZ has no choice but to turn elsewhere. The problem? Ethics don't go viral on social media. What does?

• Productivity "hacks"

• Time-saving tips

• AI demos showing benefits with no downsides

• "...we were expected to just know how to assess online information. No one taught us explicitly. The solution: I think that organizations need to prioritize AI training for managers and educators..." -Sophie Theodorou

• Ethics of AI Classroom Discussion Flashcards (Teach AI)

• From Clouds to Ground: Rethinking Data for AI Through Planetary Justice (AI + Planetary Justice Alliance)

• Zine (ECCLPS)

• We're Doing AI Wrong, Here's How to Get it Right (Sasha Luccioni, Ted Talk)