Why Adult Foundational Education Is Key to AI Literacy in the US

Prepared for National Coalition for Literacy for AEFL Week 2026
By Jen Vanek, PhD Director of Digital Learning and Research and Rachel Riggs, Digital Learning Senior Technical Advisor
World Education, a JSI initiative

Adult foundational education (AFE) continues to evolve to meet learners’ needs. Teachers and programs are skilled and ready to respond to new demands and technological shifts, ensuring learners can make informed decisions, pursue learning, and apply skills in work and civic life. Today, one demand driving innovation is the need to integrate AI literacy into AFE programming and instruction. Over the past year, that demand has sharpened as the U.S. Department of Labor released an Artificial Intelligence Literacy Framework for the workforce system. Our research points to AFE classrooms as a natural place to build AI literacy alongside foundational skills. Without this integration, adults with limited or interrupted formal education risk being left behind as AI becomes part of daily life and work.

AI Literacy matters

Artificial intelligence (AI) is in the news, part of dinner-table chatter, the center of school policy debates, and a looming fear or opportunity in many workplaces. While the effects of AI’s growing influence may not always be visible, it is certainly felt. It might be the new chat feature someone sees when filing their taxes, an automated system that helps them schedule a technician to come out and fix their A/C, or a system that reads their resume and decides whether it merits being handed off to a human in the hiring process. 

Visible or not, the increased deployment of AI is shaping how we work, learn, connect, access healthcare, make financial decisions, and participate in civic life. Just as the printing press made print literacy (i.e., reading) a foundational need for all, and the internet and personal computers created demand for digital literacy, the growing embeddedness of AI-enhanced systems, such as chatbots and recommendation engines, makes AI literacy necessary across the lifespan.

Digital Promise’s AI Literacy: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate, and Use Emerging Technology explains how AI literacy enables individuals to understand how AI works, use it effectively, and evaluate its outputs. The European Commission and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s AI Literacy Framework outlines how it prepares people not only to engage with AI but also to create, manage, and design with it for personal, civic, and professional growth. Additionally, integrating AI literacy supports the development of media, information, and digital literacies.

AI Literacy isn’t something else to do, it’s what we do 

It’s tempting to treat AI literacy as a new, separate skill set layered on top of what AFE programs already teach. For AFE programs already facing resource constraints, this approach is not only a disservice to learners but also places an undue burden on teachers and administrators to create additional classes, lessons, and curriculum.  

Our work suggests that investing in professional development, curriculum revision, and learner co-design is not only a better way to allocate resources but also  extends their reach beyond what AI literacy lab time or other standalone, siloed efforts can achieve.  AI literacy can be built alongside the reading, writing, and math instruction that AFE classrooms already provide. A learner practicing how to write a clear request, check a source for accuracy, or judge whether a text makes sense is developing skills that transfer directly to using AI tools well. By integrating AI literacy into instruction, learners will move beyond basics like “what is AI?” toward applied, critical use of the technology that serves their lifelong and lifewide needs. This kind of integration requires, crucially, educator professional development (so they can see and harness opportunities for AI literacy), curriculum revision (so it’s clear where AI literacy fits and how it should be approached), and learner co-design (so there is an understanding of the assets and curiosity learners bring regarding AI). 

AFE programs are the best place to advance AI literacy because they treat the learner as a whole person and connect instruction to the learner’s goals, unlike employer-sponsored training. Employers often default to task-based training tied to a specific tool or job. Even general digital literacy guidance is decontextualized and assumes a baseline of skills many adult learners are still developing. AFE closes that gap by adopting the learner-centered orientation that AI literacy requires.

AI Literacy today and tomorrow

Through our monthly lightning talks, conversations with IDEAL Consortium members, leadership of the EdTech strand for COABE, and other forms of engagement with the field, we have seen ample examples of how to integrate AI literacy into content instruction. AFE teachers are using project-based learning so students can apply generative AI to broader tasks and workflows, such as creating a pitch for a new business. They’re developing simple AI-enabled instructional routines, such as having learners get and critique writing feedback from a chatbot. Most of all, these teachers show that there isn’t a single formulaic approach (like a do-maybe-don’t protocol that swirls around in education circles) that applies to all tasks, content areas, and learners. That’s why we emphasize that teacher professional development is the most crucial investment. Once teachers have the knowledge and skills to navigate AI, they are in a position to apply their knowledge of students’ goals and experiences and tailor AI literacy instruction to their needs. 

By fostering critical skills, defining AI literacy in ways that resonate with learners, and drawing on a growing body of practice-based evidence, AFE programs can keep foundational education at the forefront of preparing learners for the Age of AI. As we celebrate AEFLA (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act) Week, we are reminded that adult foundational education is the bedrock of lifelong learning and workforce participation. The ability to read, write, calculate, and communicate has always been essential. Now, as AI permeates daily life, these skills must also include contextualized AI literacy. AFE programs are uniquely positioned to lead. They meet learners where they are, align instruction with real-life goals, and cultivate the resilience needed to navigate ongoing change.