Building an AI Literacy Programme

Why AI literacy matters now

Every organisation is being asked to have a position on AI. Boards want strategy documents, clients want to know how you are using it, and employees are already experimenting with tools on their own. Without a shared foundation of understanding, these conversations tend to oscillate between uncritical enthusiasm and blanket scepticism — neither of which leads to good decisions.

An AI literacy programme gives your organisation the shared language and conceptual framework it needs to evaluate AI opportunities honestly, manage risks sensibly, and avoid expensive mistakes driven by hype or fear.

Designing the programme

The most common mistake is treating AI literacy as a single course that everyone takes. In practice, different roles need different things. Senior leaders need to understand strategic implications and governance questions. Middle managers need frameworks for evaluating tools and managing AI-augmented workflows. Individual contributors need practical guidance on using AI tools effectively and safely in their daily work.

Structure your programme in tiers: a foundation module that everyone completes (covering what AI is, what it can and cannot do, and your organisation's principles for using it), followed by role-specific modules that go deeper on the topics most relevant to each group.

Making it stick

The hardest part of any literacy programme is sustaining engagement beyond the initial launch. AI is moving fast enough that a programme delivered in January may feel outdated by June. Build in regular updates — quarterly at minimum — and create channels for staff to share what they are learning from their own experiments.

Consider appointing AI champions in each department: people who are not necessarily technical experts but who are curious, well-informed, and willing to help colleagues navigate new tools and workflows. Peer learning is consistently more effective than top-down training for building genuine, lasting understanding.