Defining Critical AI Literacy in the Context of Corporate Narratives

Abstract Scholars, policymakers, and educators have proposed definitions of AI literacy that differ in their details but share an assumption that students will inevitably use GenAI throughout their lives, opting out only occasionally. In this article, the authors discuss a hands-on AI literacy activity performed with pen and paper and designed using an opt-in approach to GenAI. Working with 113 students in multiple sections of required first-year-composition at a public university, the authors piloted the activity and administered a validated survey to assess student attitudes toward GenAI before and after. While the survey showed little change in students’ attitudes, it did reveal the range of perceptions students have toward GenAI and how it impacts their agency as writers, learners, and young professionals. As the authors show, students often reproduce the narratives found in corporate marketing and documentation, drawing on them to navigate long-standing cultural and structural problems within higher education, particularly endemic transactional views of writing. The authors conclude that AI literacy training must foreground human activity awareness, focusing on human attention, choices, perceptions, and thoughts.