If We Don’t Teach Our Young People AI Literacy, Who Will?

By Susana Tomaz – Futures Education & AI Lead, Westlake Girls High School, International Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (UNESCO) Fellow, Global Mentor on AI in Education for Asia Europe Foundation, Developer of Open Education Resources

Predictions from leading AI researchers suggest we may reach Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) by the early 2030s, with Artificial Superintelligence potentially following not long after. That means the children entering Early Childhood Education will graduate as school leavers into a world shaped by “thinking” machines more powerful than any technology we’ve known. In this fast-changing landscape, education is more critical than ever to prepare future-ready citizens.To ensure our rangitahi thrive, we must start early by investing in AI literacy across Aotearoa’s schools.

“AI literacy represents the technical knowledge, durable skills, and future-ready attitudes required to thrive in a world influenced by AI. It enables learners to engage, create with, manage, and design AI, while critically evaluating its benefits, risks, and ethical implications.”

This definition builds on existing definitions from the EU AI Act, OECD, UNESCO, and other organizations.

“This is not a futures conversation. This is a now conversation.

 Children are not waiting for us to figure this out. They are already in these spaces, often without guidance or protection. Let’s ensure we don’t leave our youngest learners to navigate AI alone.”

The Alan Turing Institute’s May 2025 report, Understanding the Impacts of Generative AI Use on Children, offers critical insights into how children aged 8–12 are engaging with AI, highlighting both the opportunities and urgent risks:

• Nearly one in four children aged 8–12 are already using generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Snapchat’s My AI, despite all requiring users to be at least 13, with under-18s needing parental consent under their terms of service.
  
• These children are using AI to create images, get help with homework, and explore curiosity, but they’re doing so in largely unregulated, unsupervised environments, where exposure to bias, misinformation, and inappropriate content is a real concern.

The report highlights the critical need for coordinated policy responses, including educator training, clearer parental guidance, age-appropriate tools, and curriculum-aligned AI literacy programmes. 

A recent survey found that 72% of young people want adult guidance to use AI tools appropriately. At one large Auckland secondary school, 81.7% of the 2,300 students surveyed late 2024 reported receiving no formal instruction on AI tools.

International comparisons further highlight the risks. UNICEF Australia’s A Generation Online (2025), found that 56% of children and young people have encountered deepfake content, with 15% seeing it shared or created by a friend. However, only 34% feel confident in identifying misinformation online, and less than half (43%) believe it’s important to verify information before sharing it. Additionally, while 70% are uncomfortable with how their data is collected and used, 55% still provide sensitive personal information to access online platforms. Notably, 82% are uncomfortable with their photos or videos being used to train AI models, and 66% dislike companies predicting their behaviors based on personal data. 

While comparable data for New Zealand is not yet available, similar patterns are likely to be happening amongst our youth. These trends highlight the urgent need for AI literacy. Together, these insights highlight a growing gap between student need, teacher capability, and systemic policy support. Without coordinated national action, AI risks compounding existing inequities and undermining the quality and safety of education. Investment in structured, equitable AI literacy initiatives is essential.

International best practice

AI Leap, Estonia

AI Leap 2025 program aims to integrate cutting-edge AI tools into its education system. Starting this fall, 20,000 high school students (Years 10–11) will gain access to AI-based educational applications, and 3,000 teachers will receive training on their effective use. The initiative will later expand to include more high school students and vocational schools.

Department for Education, UK

The UK Department for Education released a policy paper and support materials last week on Generative AI in education, urging institutions to take action. It stated, “If used safely, effectively and with the right infrastructure in place, AI can support every child and young person, regardless of their background, to achieve at school and college and develop the knowledge and skills they need for life.  “

Educhat NSW, Australia

NSW EduChat is a purpose-built generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by the New South Wales Department of Education for use in public schools, currently being piloted by students at 50 public schools. It is designed to provide a safe, secure, tightly regulated AI-powered chatbot experience tailored specifically to the needs of NSW educators and students. While promising, the initiative highlights the need for significant investment in infrastructure, training, and support to scale effectively across the system.

Day of AI Australia

AI is transforming economies and societies worldwide. International initiatives such as MIT RAISE’s Day of AI and Day of AI Australia have demonstrated that structured, ethical, and engaging early exposure to AI significantly boosts digital fluency and future readiness. Since its launch in 2022, the Day of AI Australia initiative has reached over 100,000 students across more than 550 schools nationwide.Student participation grew fourfold from 2023 to 2024 (17,700 students in 2023 to 74,700 students in 2024). The programme has just been selected for the prestigious Google.org Generative AI Accelerator 2025 cohort, bringing investment, support, and technical training to rapidly expand its impact.

Day of AI not only offers free, curriculum-aligned classroom materials, but also professional learning sessions for teachers. In contrast, New Zealand currently lacks a nationally coordinated AI awareness or an AI education programme. A Day of AI Aotearoa built on our values, curriculum, and cultural context, could be a powerful and equitable step toward building nationwide capability and confidence in AI literacy in our schools and kura..

At Westlake Girls High School, we recognised early that AI integration couldn’t be an afterthought, it had to be intentional, strategic, and grounded in pedagogy. We continue to drive our whole-school AI Integration Strategy.

This term, we continued to build AI literacy in staff and expanded it to students. We launched our first AI Awareness Week, designed to spark whole-school dialogue around the impact of AI on learning, creativity, bias, truth, and trust. The event marked the rollout of five foundational student AI Literacy Modules, aligned to our AI Policy and guidelines. These modules move beyond technical functionality to fostering critical thinking, ethical reflection, and responsible use of AI. Students engaged with key concepts such as AI bias, hallucinations, deepfakes, data privacy and anonymisation, and the difference between misinformation and disinformation. A central focus of the programme was teaching students to critically evaluate AI outputs. Students also had the opportunity to experiment with given prompts that enhance learning rather than shortcut it, reinforcing AI as a tool for inquiry, creativity, and deeper understanding.

Here are some of the students’ key takeaways:

“My greatest takeaway from this module is that AI is a powerful tool that should be used responsibly. It can support learning, but it’s important to protect privacy, be honest about its use, and check facts with trusted sources. I also learned that using AI in an environmentally friendly way is part of being a responsible digital citizen.”Year 12 student

“I learned that AI can sound confident even when it’s wrong, so it’s important to double-check what it says using trusted sources. I also now understand what deepfakes are and how AI bias can affect fairness in real life.” Year 10 student

“My greatest takeaway from this module is how important it is to stay critical and cautious when using AI tools. Knowing that AI can create realistic but false information, reflect hidden biases, and sometimes “hallucinate” answers helps us use these technologies wisely and safely.” Year 11 student

“I did not know the difference of misinformation and disinformation and that disinformation can purposely mislead people. I didn’t realise how much AI controls what shows up on my feed. Now I know that it’s always learning from what I do, so I’ll be more careful about what I believe and share.” Year 11

“My greatest takeaway was understanding how AI uses algorithms to learn from my behavior online and influence what I see. It was eye-opening to realise that my feed isn’t random, it’s designed to keep me scrolling!” Year 10

From Digital Divide to AI Divide: The Time to Act Is Now!

Generative AI is projected to add $76–$102 billion annually to New Zealand’s economy by 2038, boosting GDP growth by 1% annually (Microsoft 2024 Report). However, realising this potential requires greater investment in skills, trust, policy, and enterprise adoption Microsoft reports that comparatively low digital maturity is eroding potential returns and putting New Zealand’s competitiveness at risk. Compounding this, the latest EY AI Sentiment Report, finds New Zealanders among the most sceptical and least engaged AI users, with lower levels of trust and excitement about AI’s potential,  factors that could prevent New Zealand from capitalising on our natural advantages in the growing global AI economy.

This isn’t just an economic issue, it’s an equity issue. As AI accelerates, so do the risks of deepening inequality. Without bold, coordinated action, we risk creating a world divided: one where some young people are empowered to shape AI and another where many are passively shaped by it. The AI divide is no longer a future threat. It’s a present challenge. We have a choice to make. Will we lead the way in building AI-capable, future-ready learners across Aotearoa? Or will we allow the divide to widen across our economy, our classrooms, and our communities?

You can reach me at stomaz@westlakegirls.school.nz  or book a time to chat here.

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