Empowering Learners for the Age of AI: Draft AI Literacy Framework Launch

Thank you for joining us for today's event. We'd like to invite Gorgi Deitrov, head of unit for digital education in the European Commission to start our event. Hello everybody and warm welcome from Brussels. Welcome to everybody joining us from Europe and around the world for this important conversation on AI literacy in education. The response to the event today has been quite Remarkable. We have a lot of people registered and whether you're on Zoom or you're joining us via YouTube, thank you very much for your interest in this conversation. We meet at a moment when AI

is no longer a promising technology on the horizon. It is already transforming classrooms, societies, and economies. The pace of this change is unprecedented and brings exciting opportunities, but also great challenges for education systems Worldwide. We are witnessing an unusual gap. Students and teachers are encountering AI daily, yet education systems are still trying to figure out how to respond meaningfully. This gap between technological advancement and educational adaptation is precisely why we are coming together today. The European Commission has recognized the importance of addressing AI in education as part of our broader strategies. As the unit responsible

for Digital education policy, we have been working closely with international partners to address this challenge in a systematic way. This collaborative approach ensures our response is both pedagogically sound and works across different national contexts. So over the next 75 minutes we are going to look at AI literacy from multiple angles. We will begin with high level policy perspectives from the European Commission and the OECD. This will be followed by the first public presentation of the draft framework that has been developed through international collaboration. Our panel discussion will then bring together policy expertise and classroom experience

to explore practical implementation. Today's event represents a milestone after months of collaboration between the European Commission, OECD, code.org or and International experts bringing together policy, educational research and classroom experience to share the significance of this initiative and our broader vision for European education. I'm very pleased to welcome Pia Arinild de Hansen, director general for education, youth, sport, and culture at the European Commission. Pia, the floor is yours. Thank you so much. uh Yodi um dear colleagues and and partners and also Dear Andreas uh now you should also be seeing me. Uh today marks a really

important day in our shared efforts to bring education in sync with the realities of AI. And I say shared uh because I know that we're all passionate about supporting pupils, students, and teachers, empowering them to reach their full potential through high quality education. Let me start by thanking the OECD for the strong cooperation that has Led us to where we are today and also code.org and the distinguished experts who have actively contributed to its development making uh the draft framework that we are going to have at the center of our talks and I have it

here. You also showed it before the session started. U making it a reality is is indeed what all this is about. Our education systems evolve over time but perhaps not always as fast as the demand for new skills and Competences. And nowhere are these needs more visible than concerning artificial intelligence. AI is a reality in the workplace, in entertainment, in business, and yes, in education, too. And we see AI increasingly in our classrooms and on our students and teachers devices. And we know that AI systems offer opportunities in education. It can enable us to deliver

much more personalized learning for students and Reduce bureaucracy for teachers. But we also know that we should be vigilant about the risks that AI like many other tools uh can bring. Privacy, trustworthiness, replicating biases and deepening inequalities are just a few. All of this requires us to upgrade our digital literacy skills. In fact, the EU recognized early on the importance of ensuring a balanced approach between the risks and the opportunities of AI, and we acted upon It by bringing the first legislative framework for AI in the world, the AI act. Today's event is about something

much more fundamental, our understanding of AI. And I'm convinced that only with nuanced and sound understanding we can fully exploit the potential of artificial intelligence. And this understanding needs to start in our schools. It is therefore a privilege for me to announce the launch of the draft AI literally literacy framework for Primary and secondary education today and to open the stakeholders consultations to receive your ideas and feedback on this important tool for Europe's teachers and schools. The work presented today is part of our renewed ambition, one focused more than ever on empowering people and boosting

our human capital. This is at the heart of the European Commission's work. Just two months ago, we presented the Union of Skills, our bold vision to Empower people with the skills that they need to succeed in their education, to reach their full potential and pursue their ambitions in life. The action plan on basic skills put digital skills on a par with reading, mathematics, science and also citizenship skills. And the STEM education strategic plan which is part of the union of skills raises the strategic relevance of STEM for key sectors including ICT and indeed AI. And

soon following up to the Union of Skills And the EU AI continent action plan, the commission will present its 2030 road map on the future of digital education and skills. Informed by the success and lessons learned from the first two digital education action plans, the road map will pave the way for even more ambitious future work. And of course, AI literacy will be at the core of these future efforts. And together, we must ask and answer a key Question. What role do we broadly want AI to play in our societies? and then what skills and

competences do primary and secondary education need to provide to get there. This is why we initiated and support this joint initiative on AI literacy joining forces with the OECD European and global exports. Our goal is to develop a common understanding of what being AI literate means today for primary and secondary education. And the Need for AI literacy is clear in Europe alone. Almost 60% of young people have used AI tools in the last year. And while AI skills uh are of course critical for work, not even half of our teenagers feel that school prepares them

for the future where AI will likely play an even greater role. The rapid evolution of AI demands that we match this pace with our educational response every month of the day means students falling further behind in Developing these critical competences. We must make sure that learners are equipped with the skills needed to benefit from AI and that our core values at the same time remain at the heart of what we do. Seizing opportunities presented by AI is crucial to enhance Europe's competitiveness, but also for our democracy, our security, our preparedness for any uh uh of

course by definition unknown crisis hitting us as Emphasized by the commission's preparedness union strategy. When we talk about skills, it's important to remember that we don't just need technical abilities and understanding to succeed in leading the race to develop AI. Young people must also have the critical ability needed to engage effectively with AI. And they need to be able to recognize when their smartphone uses artificial intelligence and to be aware that generative AI tools Produce useful content, but that it may come with bias and with inaccuracies. They must be able to recognize and be resilient

to the increasingly cunning disinformation practices like deep deep fakes. And this requires critical thinking and the need to think about the ethical implications of our use of these tools. AI doesn't exist in a vacuum and it's our collective responsibility as Europeans to decide how to use it Appropriately to create both social and economic value. The draft framework, as you will hear later, outlines the main competencies needed to effectively engage and create with AI, but also to manage and design AI tools. And I'm really proud of what we have achieved together through our collaboration with the

OECD. We have a long tradition of supporting the PISA report. And thanks to our collaboration, we're succeeding in raising awareness About the importance of basic skills. for example, across the EU. And I'm pleased that the final framework will help to prepare the next PISA assessment in 2029. And while of course the PISA assessment in 2029 will measure our progress, we cannot wait until then to act. Our students are encountering AI today and they need these literacy skills now, not in four years. So dear friends of education and skills, AI is a key pillar for Europe's

competitiveness And for preparedness. Just as reading and writing once defined civic participation in the industrial age and understanding understanding and navigating AI now defines participation in the digital age. And what we will see today is a draft framework that is of course only at the beginning of the of its journey. even if we have to travel fast and I insist on that. This is a journey that will involve member states and stakeholders from across Europe and Beyond. And the first discussions will take place right after this event and will continue in the months to come.

And we're delighted to host a focused consultation on the framework during the second EU digital education stakeholder forum in late June. To succeed, we must draw on the knowledge and expertise of member states and the whole education community because only together we can get where we need to get on AI and education. We Can't afford to leave anyone behind. But as I said already, there's no time to waste. Every school term that passes without engaging meaningfully with AI literacy represents potentially missed opportunities for pupils and students alike to thrive in our increasingly AI supported society.

So I look very much forward to having your views and even more importantly seeing the progress we make together in coming months. So thank you Very much. Thank you Pia for that insightful overview of how our framework supports European priorities for digital education. Let me now introduce Andrea Schlika, director for education and skills at the OECD. Andreas has been has been instrumental in ensuring this framework resonates globally and aligns with the upcoming PISA 2029 assessment. Andreas, the floor is yours. Thank you so much, Georgie. And it's a Real privilege for the OECD to be part

of this important conversation. This is not the beginning of it's not the end of the road. It's the beginning of the road, but it's a very very important discourse to work towards a shared understanding of what it means to be literate in this world of artificial intelligence. Humans have always been better to invent new tools than to use them them wisely. And that's why, you know, we need to get Ready for this. And we need to get the next generation ready for this. When I look at our last PISA assessment and saw that just about

half of 15year-olds across the European area could reliably distinguish fact of from opinion. It makes me concerned. Those are precisely the kind of skills that we need in this AI world. I want to share a couple of slides with you because as PI has just suggested at the OCD we're working very closely to go also the next step to make Those AI literacy skills visible tangible in our global pizza assessments. The reason for that is simple. You know, what you measure is where you're going to place your intention. And if we get the metrics right

of observing AI literacy, we're more likely to see, you know, good learning, good teaching towards that direction. So how do we define it? uh uh the first thing I wanted to share with you when you look at traditional Literacies here in the case of mathematics you can see about you know 60% of 15 year olds get you know the PISA reading tasks right and a little bit less the Pisa mathematics task well when we gave those same tasks to CH GPT you could see well you know in reading CH GPT actually outperformed 15year-olds human on

average but the important message is a different one. The rapid improvement of AI capabilities. You could see when we did that six months Later and a year later, a year later, even in a area like mathematics that's tough for artificial intelligence, AI outperform humans. Now, this is the moment where we have to ask ourselves, you know, what makes us human in a world of artificial intelligence. And uh importantly the framework that we are launching today is also the platform on which we develop this OECD assessment of I AI literacy. You can see in the framework

you know AI literacy Represents the technical knowledge durable skills and also importantly the future ready attitudes that we need to thrive in a world influenced by artificial intelligence. It enables learners to engage, create with, manage and design AI while at the same time also critically evaluating the benefits, the risks and the ethical implications. Now that's the idea, the concept and when you look to PISA, we are looking at this as in terms of media and artificial Intelligence as a set of competences to engage effectively, ethically and responsibly with digital content, media platform and AI systems.

That's the way in which we operationalize that concept of the framework in the form of of an assessment. Now and you know the AI literacy framework actually develops most of the skills that will be part of that PISA assessment. Now some of them have direct connect connections you know for example engaging with AI has a lot Of components of analysis and evaluation that connects with the competency analyze and evaluate in the PISA framework creating with AI obviously you know connects with this create dimension managing AI which has a lot to do with collaboration and improving

human work connects with participate and collaborate designing AI that sort of goes beyond the PISA assessment because in PISA we're talking about 15 year olds in assessment that's not yet part of the Score but you can see the alignment with the metrics and the ideas here. So let me show you a couple of examples just to illustrate how this is all going to work. uh it's basically comprising a cognitive test now where we test the capabilities of people in an AI world and also a questionnaire where we survey young people uh about their use and

also their perceptions of AI and then we collect data from teachers from schools from parents to triangulate you know This with the broader environment in which students learn teachers teach and schools operate because that's also incredibly important an environment that shapes you know students perceptions and capabilities. So to show the connections between the two you know concepts the framework and the literacy assessment on the AI literacy framework one of the comp competencies of engaging with AI is to ask students to evaluate whether AI output should be accepted revised or Rejected. difficult question and that connects

with the PIA competency of analyzing and evaluate that is currently defined as critically assessing the credibility bias and purpose of human and AI generated digital content. So let me show you a possible examples. You know, students get to quickly choose whether they think the picture that you see here is real, whether it's AI generated or AI manipulated or if they need more information to decide on that. Now, and importantly, they would be also asked to reason to explain their decision. Now that is absolutely key in the Pisa assessment because you know in 29 certainly it's

going to be very very hard to distinguish fact from opinion and reality from from this picture. So the most important piece of information that we're going to collect in this assessment is actually the critical thinking behind students answers. Now why do they think the picture is real? Why do they think it's generated by AI? Or why do they think they need more information to decide? That's the nature of this one looking more at the processes of student thoughts rather than just you know the answer they give us. Now uh this is been an example of

you know flack the AI and u but there are many other tasks that will in one way or another include AI elements and I want to show you one more another example is to use AI to assist in the Verification of a of a piece of information. Now the students in this example are asked by an avatar to check whether a piece of information is real or not. And then you know they could use the Gen AI tool that is provided in the platform to assist them with the steps on how to check whether this

item is true or false. That's really important. We're not you know asking them for an answer. We are not asking them to look up the answer. we're asking them to use An AI based tool to to find the answer and uh ideally the students would then you know use that tool to and proceed to use the recommendations that that tool provides and the first one is obviously you know being able to search for the answer online and when students do that they get information that tells them that the piece of news in this example is

not real I hope that gives you a taste of how we are trying to bring the ideas of this framework to to to life And make them visible and tangible and and measurable and hopefully guide you know students to learn better, teachers to teach better and schools to become more effective in integrating AI in their daily work. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much Andreas for highlighting the role of the framework also in relation to the PISA assessment and um the remarks that you have made on top of that highly highly relevant

now it's time to move to the Actual framework um so I'm very pleased to introduce Pat Yonprait chief academic officer of code.org or and lead of teachai. Uh Pat has helped to transform this vision into practical educational guidance and he will give us a first comprehensive look at what we have created together. So Pat, over to you. Thank you Gorgi. Hi everyone. Uh my name is Pat Yon Brad and I'm the chief academic officer of code.org and the lead of teachai and actually a former Teacher. I taught for 13 years and you're going to see

a lot of the education expertise that the entire development team brings including our partners at the European Commission and OECD and the international experts that type of uh on the ground education experience reflected in the framework. I want to thank my colleagues at the European Commission for their partnership in this work. Folks, this type of global collaboration is even More important these days as we all try to navigate a future influenced by AI that influences all of us. So, thank you Andreas and the OECD for your partnership as well. Andreas introduced our draft definition of

AI literacy. Now, let's dive into the rest of the framework to unpack that definition. So, I'm going to start sharing my screen here. So let's let's get an overview. Let's start off with why AI literacy. So this Recent Vodafone study showed us that kids believe AI is important for their future like kids all over the world, but they don't feel prepared and they actually don't feel their teachers are prepared. Again, these results are echoed across surveys all over the world. So in response to this clear need for AI literacy and the need for teachers knowledge

and skills and students knowledge and skills to be developed, we created these principles To guide our work. They include being interdisciplinary, understanding that AI is going to be integrated across multiple subjects. There's no subject that just owns AI literacy. There are subjects that will do different parts of it where relevant and where age appropriate. uh we strove to define a core set of of competencies that are foundational and needed to demonstrate proficiency in AI literacy. So this is a limited set of uh Competencies in the end not everything that you can do per AI. It's

illustrative meaning we're providing education scenarios at the primary and secondary education level and exemplars later on. It's global. It relies on an international expert group as well as many insights from all over the world including you all who are actually going to provide a review. It's practical. I talked a little bit about that with the resources and exemplars. And it's Durable as well. We know this stuff is is moving fast. And so we strove to define the competencies that would be durable 3 to 5 to 10 years from now. You tell us if we did

a good job. We also built on lots of existing initiatives uh including uh the EU AI act which provided the larger policy context um ditch comp 2.2 2 uh which provided uh information input on the structure of our framework example use cases and even the focus on learner Agency uh the UNESCO competency frameworks um you know what we learn from them we learn many things from that framework those frameworks but there's a clear expectation that the best way to empower kids in an age of AI to understand the the impacts of AI on their lives

is actually to get them hands-on in in building AI as well and yes even from a young age from digital promise. We learned that the role of computational thinking and AI and other Literacies is as important as AI literacy itself. And so uh a and uh that the evaluation of AI is is critical. From AI 4K12, we learned about the technical aspects uh of AI including the nature of AI and the significant role of data in understanding AI. And from the OECD, you already heard from Andreas the alignment between the upcoming media and AI literacy

assessment and this work. So what's our unique approach? Cuz you're probably thinking, well Pat just Talked about a bunch of frameworks. How is this one different? Well, there are many differences including the assessment that uh this framework will inform. uh the fact that there are multiple organizations supporting this work including you all who are going to be uh providing feedback but not only that a whole panel of um experts who are selected from all over region uh from multiple regions of the world um you'll be hearing from one of those experts Later on the resources

and exemplars I talked about that uh you know as a former teacher it's really important that we stay practical it's really important that we stay communitydriven as well and get your feedback. And so we're going to have a prolonged uh stakeholder uh consultation process. And lastly, one unified framework. You might look at the competencies and think, you know, these might not really be relevant. We might to my context. I Might need to adapt them. And that that's fine. But the knowledge and skills and attitudes that we defined, we hope are core across multiple contexts and

multiple academic settings. So the intended audience, there are four of them. You know, obviously if you're a teacher on in this in this webinar, folks, thank you and thank you so much for what you're doing to figure out AI literacy in your fields. But, you know, more than you all, there's education Leaders, education policy makers, and learning designers as well that we're talking to with this framework. At the core of the framework are knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Here's a sampling of them. Please look at the framework to learn more about them. And if you're wondering

where ethics are, I'm going to get to that, but the short answer is it's everywhere. It's in the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and the Competencies. And so there are four domains uh of AI literacy. And we arranged the 22 currently 22 competencies into these four domains. Engaging with AI is about, you know, AI in daily life. Evaluating what we see, understanding AI's influence. Creating with AI is about the creative problem uh creative uh process. Um and and frankly a lot of people are using it to create images, text, whatever these days using generative AI. But as

we know AI is much More than just generative AI. And so managing AI talks about how we augment and automate our human workflows and make sure that AI doesn't replace us but augments us and supports us in our work. And then designing AI is about empowering kids to really shape AI behavior and not just be passive consumers and help them understand the role of data and making even design decisions and how those design decisions are Made. So what does a competence look like? Well, here it is. Uh here's a really important one from the managing

AI domain. It's called it it says decide whether to use AI systems based on the nature of the task. And I want to thank Florian who you're going to hear from later. Lauren was really someone who championed this idea of like maybe we shouldn't even use AI systems for some tasks and we need to know when to use it, when not to use it based on the Nature of the task, the need for accuracy, reliability, etc. Um, and so here you see the different knowledge, skills and attitudes as well as the primary and secondary education

scenarios that help teachers and students understand like so how do I actually do this in my classroom? There are other examples of competencies all over the framework. Obviously, here are some examples. Again, I'm not going To read these to you because I'm hoping that you'll find the framework approachable enough that you will actually read the the content and not just skim it, folks. Um so please read these competencies, learn more about the the frameworks um knowledge, skills and attitudes and uh you know we provided descriptions for each competence as well as uh education scenarios so

that it could be very illustrative for you. Again let us know how we did. So with That uh you know I've been talking about reviewing and providing feedback. Here's your opportunity. We're launching this draft. I know it looks very polished and you might think, well, what do I have to add? You have to add a lot. In fact, again, my educators out there, please help us with these education scenarios. We don't want theoretical education scenarios. We want to know what you're actually doing in the classroom per these competencies to promote AI Literacy. So, provide feedback

on this draft. Um, we'd love to hear from you, whether it's a focus group or the survey or whatever. And with that, I'm gonna I believe either I turn it back to Gorgi or I Yes, I turn it back to Gorgi to introduce our panel. Gorgi, by the way, it's been wonderful to work with you and the European Commission and the OECD. So, thank you for uh thank you for working with us. Thank you, Pat, for this um excellent presentation and taking us to the core of it. uh even if it's brief as you said

encouraging everybody to u get their hands on it quite satisfying to see the ideas uh becoming um much more concrete now we are going to turn our attention to a panel discussion on classroom implementation and um for that I'm very pleased to hand over to Antoaneta who is a director for innovation digital education and International cooperation at the European Commission She will lead a diverse panel with perspectives from Estonia, Germany and India. Antoaneta, the stage is yours. Thank you very much, Korg. I'm indeed very privileged to have the opportunity to moderate this uh uh panel.

Let me start first of all by very warmly welcoming uh all our viewers, those who are following today's webinar and who are joining us for this uh panel uh Discussion. We are going to discuss in the next 30 35 minutes the more practical aspects related to um the integration of AI literacy in education. Uh let me also uh start by uh congratulating um all colleagues who have been involved in developing the draft AI literacy framework uh for primary and secondary education as already mentioned by other uh speakers. It's the beginning of a journey and it's

really a great great collaborative Effort. Um while still this is a draft indeed uh this is a great milestone for the European Commission uh because uh we uh make a continuous endeavor to promote effective and uh quality digital transformation in education and also to ensure an appropriate response um to the uh AI transition. As already stressed by other uh speakers, AI is no longer a distant possibility. It is a reality. It is shaping our lives, but it is also shaping our classrooms, our curriculara, And most importantly, the way we prepare our young people, our students,

and all learners for the world ahead. Therefore, AI literacy is a necessity. It's crucial for navigating this new landscape for equipping learners and educators uh with the necessary critical thinking uh to harness the AI in a responsible ethical and creative way for charting a path forward in a world of fast advancing technologies with many uncertainties and uh unknowns. Now that We have the draft framework um uh launched and we have uh the start of the stakeholder consultation, it is indeed a great moment to get some initial feedback and reflections uh on the draft and to

discuss the way forward. So for the next steps we'll have the time uh in the coming months to finalize this draft and that's why uh your feedback will be particularly important and more importantly it will be seen and this is what we would like to achieve through The panel discussion today is to see how to turn the objectives of this uh draft framework into action so that we can achieve a genuine systemic change when it comes to the integration of AI literacy in education and this will be exactly the purpose of this panel discussion and

we'll have the possibility to hear diverse views and perspectives when it comes to artificial intelligence and how to address the important issues related to its Practical implementation in education. So we have three fantastic speakers with us. Let me briefly introduce them. We have Mr. Florian Rumple who is the program director for future skills and AI and the managing director of the AI campus at the Febant in Germany. With us is also Miss Rein Sadiar. She's joining from Estonia in her role as a head of education technology area at the ministry of education and research. And

with us is also Miss Sisha Rani Paul who Is a high school teacher in maths with more than 15 years of experience in uh Dharmapuri in India. A very warm welcome to all of you. So without the first uh without a further ado I'd like to start with my first question which is a broad one and it is a question common to all of you. It will be great to hear from you why AI literacy is important today and what would be indeed the benefits uh for education systems of having an AI literacy framework in

place. It will be Great to hear from your different perspectives also how we can make uh this AI literacy framework working in practice. So my uh question will be first um addressed to Florian. Florian you are bringing the expertise on AI. You have the national but also EU international experience and also experience in teaching. So over to you. Thank you very much Antoneta and a warm welcome to everyone. I think a lot has been said today already. AI literacy is Important because AI systems are already part of our daily lives. But what is becoming increasingly

clear is that although all of us use AI to a certain extent, we struggle with really understanding when and how to best use it. Pat said it before. I was a strong advocate of emphasizing that AI literacy is also the literacy to decide against AI in a context where it doesn't make sense or where where it is ethically not uh not right to use AI systems and AI Literacy framework and the AI literacy framework that we are working on I hope is going to provide orientation orientation to policy makers orientation to teachers and educators and

orientation to the students who yeah who are sometimes also struggling in a world that is influenced by technology and by technological disruption every day and um just looking back at the work that we did with the expert group but especially also with the support of teach AI I Think if this orientational framework is put into practice in the classroom, we can really change how we um interact with digital technology and especially AI. And I think the European Commission um had good reasons to support that because this risk um based approach that you um initiated with

the AI act provides a good good starting point for really looking at eye systems in the context of opportunities but also at risks and risks in the classroom and Amongst pupils are especially important. What I see my role is also that I believe AI literacy has to and can be shaped with the means of digital and open education. I believe that all of us in Europe but globally we have to collaborate because the knowledge and skills gaps are so big that we only jointly can achieve an AI literate society. So let's collaborate. Let's use this

starting point and let's get AI literacy not only in the classroom but Also in policym and teacher education. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. Uh Florian very important perspectives that you brought to this uh first round of questions and I would like now to hear from you. How do you see from your perspective the importance of AI literacy in education? Uh thank you and thank you for the invitation. It it is an honor to be here and I also would like to to to thank everyone who uh um who worked on this uh Uh

AI literacy framework because I believe that this is something we should all use regarding to make sure that our children uh get the the necessary AI literacy at in our schools. And uh what I would like to emphasize adding to all those very important aspects mentioned already is that uh it is especially important because actually at this point we cannot decide anymore whether we would like to implement AI to our lessons or not because uh this is Something that has been uh or has going out of our control. So I think that it is important

to uh to to decide that AI or to agree that AI will transform the world anyway and the education anyway but the question is whether that change happens to us or can we control it and maybe uh uh uh contribute from it. So I think that's why it's uh it is really important that we pay the pay uh much attention to to to this subject. Thank you very much. I think That very you you you're making a very clear point to the need of being prepared uh and also equipping uh people with the necessary skills

to react to situations or uh a new reality uh which is very fast evolving. Um and now I would like to hear from you sirish from your perspective as a teacher with such a solid teaching experience how do you see it? Thank you so much. I have to thank Everyone. I feel honored to be a part of this webinar. But let me begin with a simple truth. Air literacy is no longer optional. It's essential. As students, Gen Z are growing up in a world where artificial intelligence powers everything from social media algorithms to voice assistants.

They interact with AI every day. Yet many lack a deep understanding how these systems work or how they impact their lives. Yes, the challenges Are real. Misinformation and deep fakes blur the line between fact and fiction. Platforms collect and use personal data which students don't fully understand. Harmful content is often fed to them affecting their mental health. So, okay, fine. Let me begin by highlighting the benefits of introducing AI literacy into our education system. Firstly, AI literacy empowers students for the future workforce. Zenzi will not just use AI, they will be working with It, on

it, and sometimes against it. Giving them the knowledge and tools now means they can step confidently into careers in technology, healthcare, finance, education and beyond as skillful and adoptable professionals. Secondly, AI literacy encourages ethical awareness and critical thinking. In a world of deep fakes and AI surveillance, students must understand the consequences of technology. They Need to ask just because we can build it, should we? Yeah. Let me tell you something. Many of the celebrities share how media manipulation and false narratives deeply impacted their personal lives. Today with advanced tools like deep fakes, anyone's image or

voice can be digly altered to create fake content that looks and sounds completely real. Imagine a video of someone saying something they never actually said. Without proper awareness, many people would believe it. That's why teaching a literacy matters. Students need to understand how easily misinformation can spread and learn to question what they see online. For example, uh if a student sees a deep fake of a famous person or even a classmate, they need the critical thinking skills to recognize it's not real. AI literacy teaches them not only how technology works, but how to use it

ethically and Responsibly. And finally, AI education sparks creativity and problem solving. When students learn how AI works, they begin to imagine new ways to solve real world problems whether they are from environmental issues uh or personalized health. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much, Sisha. you brought to the four indeed very essential points and I hope that uh during our next round of questions and answers you can further Elaborate on them because you're bringing very practical experience and uh really the perspective from the classroom and uh interaction with the uh students but now we are

going to a deep dive uh um into the draft AI literacy framework and what will be interesting uh actually to learn from you um and see how this framework can operate um in the broader context. We know that there are already existing initiatives and other projects. So we would like to see how These can interact and uh here I would like to start with rene uh we know Estonia is very much advanced in digital technologies pioneering also the extension in leading also bringing uh more uh AI into uh education but also with the practical experience

and initiatives and you have the AI lip program which is a pioneer initiative when it comes to introducing AI literacy in schools uh across the country. So it will be great to share with us Rene principles behind this project and uh whether there are any uh particular lessons learned though it's still at an early uh stage that you could share more broadly and which could be taken into account by other countries other institutions uh which are interested and willing actually to bring AI literacy into their classroom. So over to you. Okay. So um uh when

we talk about AI lip then I think that our main uh idea what We want to uh uh keep in mind is actually the slogan real intelligent before artificial intelligent. And as our president said that uh uh as a country we do not want to be a nation who uses the AI most but we want to be a nation who uses AI the smartest and that's why the the main idea of AI leap is actually that is not enough to bring technology to schools and to to classrooms and not enough to make our uh students

um to use AI. high Very efficiently but at the same time we need to pay a uh um uh we need to pay uh attention to the learning processes which need to change also together with uh the the development of technology. So um our uh program which is inspired by our D tiger uh Diger Lee program is actually a um a digital education initiative and um in the first phase starting from this 1st September uh our 20,000 upper secondary school students And the teachers will gain access to a AI AI powered learning tools but these

learning tools are designed to use in a education processes. So as as Sisha also mentioned that actually at the moment there are students who using the AI tools already but actually this does not improve their learning processes. It can be opposite. it can harm the learning processes because they do not the AI uh tools they are using do Not support actually the wise learning. So what we want to achieve through our program is that we teach students actually how to learn through digital devices and for that we need specific AI uh or education based AI

tools and at the moment we are actually uh we are actually at the negotiation progress uh process with with several stakeholders. But but when you ask about already uh um achieved or gained u u knowledge we want to share is that Actually a teacher and teachers mindset is a key element because when a teacher believes that they can use technology in order to enhance students learning then we can make it happen. otherwise it it won't work in the classroom. So uh the the core is our of our project is actually together with the technology the

learning programs for teachers and again not only how to use the technology but also how to adapt the learning processes They have in the classroom in order to make sure that uh students use uh AI tools wisely and smartly. Thank you very much Rein. You're bringing up a lot of uh important issues. Uh how to use technology AI in a smart way. Also how to make sure that the technology that is used by students is designed for the education purpose is hugely hugely important because this is also referring to uh wider collaboration with those who

are actually developing This technology uh and certainly the importance of teachers and that they need to be equipped with the necessary skills, competencies, mindset of how to use technology and AI and this very nicely actually brings me back to Sishia because my question to you Sishia is um what motivates you actually to champion AI literacy in your classroom and uh now that we've started discussing the framework and the framework was presented do you see um in this draft Framework any particular competencies that you're already teaching uh your students and if you can share with us

also in this process do you face do you experience any particular obstacles so it will be great uh for all our viewers and all of us actually to to hear from you thank you over to you re definitely thank you uh being a believer I read the Bible every day and one verse from the book of proverbs continues to ground me in this mission you know that Verse is do you see a person skillful in their work, they will stand before kings. They will not stand before obscure people. Yeah, this scripture reminds me that true

excellence, skill developed with the discipline and intention leads to influence. And I believe my calling as a teacher is to help students become skillful not only in academics but also in life. In today's fast changing world, being skillful means understanding the technologies shaping our future. That's why I'm passionate about championing AI literacy in the classroom. You know, it's isn't just about technology. It's about equipping students to think critically or solve problems and act with the ethical responsibility as our set wisely and ethically. responsibly right for that you know in fact I use the 5e teaching

Model in my math classroom that 5e is engage explore explain elaborate and evaluate so I use this in my math lessons to make complex concepts accessible and meaningful through hands-on AI projects my students learn how to analyze data recognize patterns and design design creative solutions. So this approach helps students develop a deeper understanding and these skills prepare them to face Uncertainity, address real world issues so that they can lead with confidence. These are the very foundations needed for understanding AI all of which are central to how AI functions. And coming to obstacles, yes, I do

face many challenges. Uh working with children from rural and semi- urban communities, I really have challenges. Students are at very different levels of digital readiness. Some were techsavvy While others needed support with basic courses. Uh which slowed things down. But I didn't step back. I made sure every student had the chance to engage, learn and grow. For me, it's about empowerment. No matter where they come from, they should think critically and dream big. My motivation is deeply rooted in faith and purpose. I want to see them stand confidently before life's most complex Challenges. At the

heart of it all, my goal is simple. to ensure that every child leaves my classroom not only more knowledgeable but more capable ready to lead with wisdom and integrity. Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you so much Sisha. did very very inspiring with very concrete examples that you shared with us and really underlining once more that it is important to use AI and digital technologies in a very in an ethical responsible manner and what is Important is that we have to equip young people and students with skills not only while they're still at schools or

in education but for life for a life which we know um is there are a lot of uncertainties or unknowns ahead of us. Uh so this brings me now we heard a lot about critical thinking and a lot of important elements but Florian as it was mentioned already earlier uh also by path you have taken part in the preparation of uh this uh framework Through this expert group which has supported the process. So it would be great uh to hear from you actually what was important for you when uh developing this framework and uh judging

also from your national but also wider experience. It will be great to hear um what would be um how to ensure actually the competencies set in the framework can reach um classrooms at scale. So over to you Lauren. So so I think coming back to what Sisha just said also for the expert Group some wisdom and integrity in the approach was definitely useful but also curiosity um amongst yeah the exchanges that we had with each other but also looking at what was already there. So an AI literacy framework should never be about reinventing the wheel.

So especially teach AI but also all experts involved so far provided valuable insights in what AI literacy could mean and I myself I learned a lot about different approaches towards what AI Literacy could mean. I think I come from quite a focused European background. I work a lot with the dickcom framework with the concepts of knowledge, skills and attitudes and for example about these concepts. We had a lot of discussions but they were so open and they were so creative and curious amongst each other that they really help you know to to to include different

perspectives in what we are trying to work out. What is the most difficult Challenge there I believe is finding a common language. I mean between German and English that's a huge challenge I'm telling you but I found out within our work British and American English is also a difference. So the concept of attitudes I think I can say in this round was something that was not so regularly used in the American English context and for us Europeans it's totally normal and it's totally um established. So finding a common Language we are still on the way

to do so and I really hope that everyone who's participating in the review phase will help us in getting there by always also considering that we have to keep it simple because if we are overwhelming the teacher in the classroom the AI literacy framework will not reach the classroom and especially education scientists like me um sometimes tend to write a academic text but forget that the most crucial task is to make it Applicable and understandable for those in the classroom. And um when we are talking about the classroom and how to make it happen that

it get gets into the classroom. I think we we have two two aspects that that are really crucial. We do not only need a common and a simple kind of language but we also need to make it relevant. And I think that was really really inspiring to me how teach AI approached the creation process of the framework because they always looked At the classroom scenarios where a competence could actually you know be shown be useed. So for example, I didn't believe myself that designing AI could be a competence for a primary school student, but Pat

and his team convinced me otherwise because they found scenarios that actually make it applicable, make it real and make it relevant to the primary school teacher or the secondary school teacher. So this is a very brilliant feature of the Framework creating relevance to the teachers who have to use it in the very end. Now looking at how we approached the topic in Germany, I think we started quite early on with an AI strategy that also involves AI education since 2019. The AI campus um um that I am honored to lead is an AI learning initiative

that is now um over five years also and already there to shape and to support our education systems. But we still see that there is somehow a gap between the Researchers, the policy makers and the educators in the classroom. So I believe with air literacy frameworks and with our ideas, we have to inform and inspire policy makers and I hope there are some policy makers here today who are inspired by what is being discussed and by what is being provided by the draft framework and at the same time we have to focus on the educators.

I believe and I am a trained um secondary school teacher myself. I believe if we do not Sufficiently train the educator and that starts in university training, we will have no chance that our students in the classroom will achieve the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes that we require and that means a change also in how we approach and curriculum design. AI literacy has to be integrated throughout all the subjects. it cannot be seen as an add-on that we somewhere do on Friday afternoon on the site and that will be a crucial step. We are not

There yet. Not in Germany. I believe mostly not in Europe and globally also. Um but we have to see AI literacy and AI literacy education as a core component of um primary and secondary school teaching but also at university training that prepares the teachers of the future for their work in the classroom because only then they will have they will have the self-efficacy they need in an AIdriven classroom in order to interact meaningful with their students and with The technology. Thank you so much Florian. Uh you brought up so many important uh uh questions again

about collaboration across policy makers, researchers, teachers of the various uh levels that are involved uh in these matters but also across the education chain and uh I can only uh um support your view and agree with what you said that this needs to be introduced across all uh subjects as well. uh and within 30 minutes we can Only scratch the surface when we talk about AI AI literacy bringing to the classrooms and uh to uh our education systems um and we need to uh very uh shortly wrap up with uh this discussion I would like

to ask you a very final question if you can very briefly um tell us if you have one takeaway from this exchange given the uh wide variety of issues and topics that you raised and that uh we highlighted in this exchange which should this be uh so I would like Now to start to start with sisha if there is one takeaway sisha what would be for you yeah as we embrace the of AI always stay curious and critical understand how it works but never stop questioning how it is used AI is not magic. It's a

tool shaped by human values. As educators, learners, and citizens, we have a responsibility to guide it with wisdom. Ensuring it upholds human dignity, protects our Planet, and advances the sustainable development goals. Because the true power of AI lies not in what it can do, but in what we choose to do with it. for a smarter, fairer, and more sustainable world. Thank you. Thank you very much, Sisha. Now, I'd like to turn to Florian briefly. My key takeaway is that we have to keep talking to each other because if we want to put the human at

the center of Interacting with technology, we need to support each other. We need to find common languages and we need to find ethically sound and human- centered approaches towards interacting with artificial intelligence. Meaning that we are not only looking at the risks but also the opportunities but we leave the decision whether to use or not to use AI to the individual and to the student who is literate enough to do it themselves. Thank you very much Florian. Over to You. Okay. And I I agree Florian and I also would like to add that uh as

mentioned earlier there's no need to invite in in uh there's no need to work alone that we should uh see it as a uh uh as a common uh goal to to to make sure that they literacy is something we teach our children. So I really hope that the cooperation on European level uh will continue on this issue. Thank you very much. Thank you very much To our wonderful speakers. As I said we don't have unfortunately um any more time to continue this very interesting uh important and relevant discussion. As it was already mentioned, this

is the beginning of a journey, but also I can uh fully subscribe to what was said in terms of a main takeaway. Uh this is uh globally important issue, globally relevant issue and it requires global collaboration. So this particular um exercise, this particular initiative, The joint work between OCD and the European Commission on this matter is therefore uh extremely important. So big big thanks uh to our uh wonderful speakers and now I would like to give back the floor to uh Gorgi in order to continue with the rest of the event. Thank you. Well, thank

you Antoaneta and thank you to all the panelists for this great conversation. Um we are slowly coming um to the um uh end of the program but There is one um important person that I want to still bring in here and for a very very short conversation um and this is Mario Pia Chentini who is um the senior analyst at the OECD uh who has uh led the work on the ground. Mario, pleasure to see you. Um and um if you allow me maybe um one question Mario, you have um um a lot of experience

in in this work and um I would like to ask you um how do you think can uh this framework that we have seen today being Uh presented how can it be actually translated to the different uh educational systems across countries? I realize it's a very tough question for a very short time, but maybe you can give it a go. Mario, thank you. Thank you, Gary. First of all, thanks uh thanks a lot to you for your leadership in this uh in this work. uh to the expert group for all the work we have been

doing together on this on this frameworks and of course to the Teach AI uh team all the people like behind the scenes past team for uh the many interaction discussion deciding together on this list of uh list of competencies. We are really looking forward to uh to see all the engagement of the people that have been listening to us today in uh reviewing uh this this draft. So to get to your uh to to your question u Gorgi uh you know what these frameworks are mostly for it's to provide orientations For uh for policy for

a wide range of actors from people that are in charge of uh curriculum design u assessment design teacher training. So uh there are a variety of actors that are that are engaged that will need to see uh to what extent uh uh this uh this framework and the way we have been describing these competencies uh with all the operational choices that we have described that part has uh mentioned trying to use relatively simple language uh trying to Use uh use cases of applications uh for different age groups. if all these solutions that we have adopted

in the design of this artifact are actually helpful in uh in guiding their work. uh our job at the OCD and to some extent also your job at the commission is really not to be uh prescribing or to give instruction to to to policy maker and in the education world is particularly important that uh these ideas are translated and adapted to the Uh reality of the national context engaging uh as many stakeholders as possible including of course teachers and their and and the union. So uh we expect that in the following months there will be

a process of adaptation of this of this framework our when we set you remember together like the what are the goals the long-term goals of our cooperation we say okay we put this framework on the on the ground and then maybe in three years or four years we Will see uh three four national framework that will take this idea and elaborate and uh uh uh make uh adapt that to their context. So I think our job is really to try to be as supportive as possible. Try uh we are starting this one year of consultation

something that I've never done before. Uh it's really uh exciting to have all this time to uh from a draft framework to a final one. uh we hope to listen as much as possible from policy makers Understand what problems what practical question they have in this in this adaptation and what are the next step what are really the practical things that we that remain to be done Florian said connections to the curriculum that's definitely something we can provide further advice on uh concrete case studies or exemplars all these things are on are you know are

feasible Uh and my last point is that I also wanted to to thank you because this has Been extremely useful also for for our work in pizza. Uh it has been great to connect to such a large group of of experts and organization u to make pizza a little bit more like relevant in this in this context that is changing so fast that you know only with this broad consultation and collaboration we can really uh make sense of it. So, thanks. Thanks for uh your support. Well, thank you. Thank you, Mario. Um And I'm sure

that we could unpack that part that comes up next and we will together. But it's time now to wrap up and um to um conclude our event. In fact, um as our event concludes, uh our real work in a way begins. So over the 75 minutes we've moved from vision to framework to practical implementation discussions from um also panel feedback. What strikes me most is the shared recognition that AI literacy is not uh some sort of a future challenge. It's uh Right here right now and it's a necessity to deal with. So this draft framework

now enters into your hands. Um everyone your feedback will shape how students engage with AI. The consultation uh runs until autumn and a little bit later perhaps as well. So visit the website, complete the feedback survey, join us at the digital education stakeholder forum for example late in Brussels in June. Uh what we are doing today shapes hopefully education for Tomorrow for the better and the goal is quite clear to prepare uh young people to use AI confidently, critically and creatively. Many thanks to all the speakers, panelists, participants as well as the whole team. I

cannot list them who have shaped this event today. I wish you a pleasant rest of the day wherever you may be. Thank you.