Artificial intelligence literacy: a proposed faceted taxonomy

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a taxonomy of artificial intelligence (AI) literacy to support AI literacy education and research. Design/methodology/approach This study makes use of the facet analysis technique and draws upon various sources of data and information to develop a taxonomy of AI literacy. The research consists of the following key steps: a comprehensive review of the literature published on AI literacy research, an examination of well-known AI classification schemes and taxonomies, a review of prior research on data/information/digital literacy research and a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 1,031 metadata records on AI literacy publications. The KH Coder 3 software application was used to analyse metadata records from the Scopus multidisciplinary database. Findings A new taxonomy of AI literacy is proposed with 13 high-level facets and a list of specific subjects for each facet. Research limitations/implications The proposed taxonomy may serve as a conceptual AI literacy framework to support the critical understanding, use, application and examination of AI-enhanced tools and technologies in various educational and organizational contexts. Practical implications The proposed taxonomy provides a knowledge organization and knowledge mapping structure to support curriculum development and the organization of digital information. Social implications The proposed taxonomy provides a cross-disciplinary perspective of AI literacy. It can be used, adapted, modified or enhanced to accommodate education and learning opportunities and curricula in different domains, disciplines and subject areas. Originality/value The proposed AI literacy taxonomy offers a new and original conceptual framework that builds on a variety of different sources of data and integrates literature from various disciplines, including computing, information science, education and literacy research.