Performing AI literacy
Ben Williamson,
Code Acts in Education,
Apr 30, 2025
Ben Williamson comments "James O'Sullivan recently argued, provocatively and compellingly, the case for AI illiteracy, noting that most discussion frames AI literacy 'as a form of compliance: one learns the tools so as not to fall behind'" and then suggests this "foregrounds the politics of calling for universal AI literacy standards and the kinds of exclusions in terms of knowledge, learning and skills that most definitions impose." He then points to OECD as instantiating the politics in question. "The OECD is no neutral actor when it comes to AI." He notes, "the significance of the AI literacy assessment is not necessarily the quantitative results it will produce in more than half a decade's time. It's the activity that it incites in education systems in anticipation of the assessment." This is true of all such 'rankings'. They are promoting specific metrics as valuable. "It is the use of a test to incite anticipatory actions that is often referred to as 'performativity,'" writes Williamson.
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