6.3 Impacts

Key Shifts in Curriculum Design

We will need to integrate AI Literacy very early in our school. Countries like Singapore and the UAE are introducing AI concepts in primary education, with an emphasis on ethical use and societal impact. However, we cannot abandon those students who have made it to college and are now caught between zero AI literacy (which they never acquired in their primary years of education) and the current state of Artificial Intelligence’s evolution, which demands a greater specific Literacy from people all over the world.

We will need to teach Prompt Engineering, where students must learn how to communicate effectively with AI tools, thereby sharpening both their language and logic skills.

We will also have to embed Critical Thinking across all subjects in post-secondary education. AI literacy shouldn’t be siloed in tech classes. Literature, history, and social studies can use AI tools to analyze bias, misinformation, and ethical dilemmas.

We must ensure that our future generations continue to prioritize Human-Centred Skills.
Creativity, empathy, and moral reasoning are irreplaceable. These must be promoted and emphasized alongside a prudent and intelligently employed AI fluency.

Addressing Risks

Of the greatest importance in all curricular approaches is avoiding cognitive offloading. Recent studies have shown that students who rely heavily on AI tools may experience reduced engagement and poorer memory retention. This, coupled with the negative effects of social media on cognitive acquisition and development, is the basis for an urgent call to action that will be formulated in Chapter 7.