Why AI Fluency Matters Now More Than Ever
Let me catch you up to speed on what happened in the world of AI in just the last week.
An AI-agent only Social Network was created for Clawdbots (the AI agents) called Moltbook (yes sound like Facebook) and the AI agents had thousands of posts that got a bit creepy.
Tesla announced they are stopping (or slowing down) the production on Model S and Y to scale 1M Optimus humanoid robots this year.
Google turned on Gemini for 3.8B Chrome browser users…
OpenAI is raising another $100B (750B valuation) round of funding.
A robot (built by the company Figure) washed the dishes with zero human interaction.
Apple acquired a stealth startup for $2B that can lip read. This gives them the capability to integrate their tech for new AI consumer airpods with cameras and mics!
AND Google Glass 2.0 is coming this summer.
Yea, this AI THING is not slowing down any time soon. And YES this means we have to be ever-vigilant when working with AI, when leading in this moment, and thinking about how it will impact our current generation of students.
This is why I’m so passionate about AI-Fluency. And why I released my new AI-Ready School Leadership Certification Program with Maven.
AI-Literacy is a moving target (and a bad target for schools right now). All the things I just listed above happened this week and will impact learning in thousands of ways.
Here’s my issue, and an argument for you as a school leader:
AI-literacy is an overloaded, still-fuzzy buzzword that risks distracting us from the real literacy crisis (reading, writing, critical comprehension).
AI-fluency is a better target. Students and educators who can actually work with AI in authentic tasks, grounded in strong foundational literacy.
Here’s why AI-fluency is a better target for schools.
This is how emerging research and practice define AI-fluency.
Ohio State University’s AI Fluency initiative, for example, defines AI fluency as graduates having:
“deep expertise in their field and the ability to apply AI thoughtfully, responsibly, and innovatively within it,”
becoming “bilingual—fluent in both their discipline and the responsible, intuitive use of AI.”
Other definitions from higher ed, industry, and workforce research emphasize that AI-fluency means you can:
Work effectively with AI tools in authentic tasks
Understand both capabilities and limitations
Exercise critical judgment, ethical reasoning, and creativity with AI in your domain
One recent analysis from Harvard Business Publishing on AI-fluent employees found that fluency is built through hands-on experimentation, not theory: people learn by repeatedly using AI in their real work, reflecting, and adjusting.That’s a game-changer for K-12.
AI-fluency = applied, situated, iterative problem-solving with AI in context.
And most importantly, you cannot be AI-fluent if you can’t do these basic skills.
Can’t read a long passage closely
Can’t distinguish a good argument from a bad one
Can’t write clearly enough to prompt, revise, and communicate outcomes
AI-fluency depends on literacy. It doesn’t replace it.
This is exactly what we cover in the AI-Ready School Leaders Certification Program.
It is for Cabinet Level leaders who are ready to lead the work around Artificial Intelligence with purpose and intention in their organization.
It is for School Level leaders who have dabbled in AI but want to be in the Top 1% of Education Leaders, using it fluently in their daily work.
And it’s for Curriculum and Tech leaders who need to balance safeguards, ethical considerations, and a changing landscape in their roles right now.
We’ve got folks signing up from all over the country (and world) ready to cut the noise, stop wasting time, and get up to speed on AI and how it is impacting our work right now (and of course in the future).
