Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly part of everyday life, from social media and online shopping to medical diagnostics and self-driving cars. AI literacy means having the knowledge and skills to understand, evaluate, and use AI technologies in an informed way. AI literacy is the ability to recognize, understand and effectively use artificial intelligence across various contexts.
Explore the sections in order or jump to a topic that interests you. This guide is organized around five key areas of AI literacy: Understanding AI (technical basics); Ethical Use of AI; Critical Thinking with AI; Using AI Tools; and AI & Society. There is also a section for Further Study which contains resources to help you better understand this rapidly developing field.
This guide will be updated frequently, but the field of AI is developing rapidly and information pertaining to specific tools may be out of date at the time of reading. Please let us know if you notice anything that appears to be out of date.
Last updated: September 2025
Lo, L. S. (2023). The CLEAR path: A framework for enhancing information literacy through prompt engineering. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(4).
This guide was developed in part by using ChatGPT, a generative AI large language model. It assisted in drafting content, providing recommendations, and refining language to ensure clarity and coherence. All AI-generated text was reviewed and edited for accuracy and relevance to the topic.
This work by Fort Lewis College Reed Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.