From Data Literacy to Artificial Intelligence: A Review of Critical Competencies in the Digital Age
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18213721Keywords:
Information literacy, Data literacy, AI literacy, Information access systemsAbstract
This review study explores the relationship between data literacy and artificial intelligence (AI) literacy, based on academic literature published between 2010 and 2025. The aim of the study is to analyze the intersections between these two concepts, how they complement each other, and their significance for individuals and institutions in the digital age. As digitalization accelerates, the ability of individuals and institutions to make data-driven decisions, interpret algorithmic systems, and develop ethical awareness has expanded the scope of both data literacy and AI literacy. The study focuses on the intersection of these two literacies, particularly in educational settings and user-centered AI applications. The literature shows that AI literacy goes beyond technical knowledge, encompassing critical thinking, ethical sensitivity, and transparency. Moreover, it emphasizes that individuals need strong data literacy skills to understand and use AI systems effectively and responsibly. This study highlights the need for comprehensive educational policies and assessment tools to enhance digital literacy competencies in the age of AI.
References
Almatrafi, O., Johri, A., & Lee, H. (2024). A systematic review of AI literacy conceptualization, constructs, and implementation and assessment efforts (2019–2023). Computers and Education Open, 6, 100173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2024.100173
Boyd, D. (2014). It's complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.
Calzada Prado, J., & Marzal, M. Á. (2013). Incorporating data literacy into information literacy programs: Core competencies and contents. Libri, 63(2), 123–134. https://doi.org/10.1515/libri-2013-0009
Carlson, J., Fosmire, M., Miller, C., & Nelson, M. S. (2011). Determining data information literacy needs: A study of students and research faculty. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 11(2), 629–657. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2011.0022
DataCamp. (2025). The state of data & AI literacy report 2025. https://www.datacamp.com/blog/introducing-the-state-of-data-and-ai-literacy-report-2025
Dhar, V. (2013). Data science and prediction. Communications of the ACM, 56(12), 64–73. https://doi.org/10.1145/2500499
D'Ignazio, C. (2017). Creative data literacy: Bridging the gap between the data-haves and data-have nots. Information Design Journal, 23(1), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1075/idj.23.1.03dig
Digital Promise. (2024, June 18). AI literacy: A framework to understand, evaluate, and use emerging technology. https://digitalpromise.org/2024/06/18/ai-literacy-a-framework-to-understand-evaluate-and-use-emerging-technology/
Druga, S., Williams, R., Breazeal, C., & Resnick, M. (2017). “Hey Google is it ok if I eat you?" Initial explorations in child-agent interaction. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children (pp. 595–600). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3078072.3079753
Ebeling, J., Koch, H., & Roth-Grigori, A. (2021). Data literacy education an deutschen Hochschulen: Kompetenzen im kritischen Umgang mit Daten. Stifterverband.
Eslami, M., Rickman, A., Vaccaro, K., Aleyasen, A., Vuong, A., Karahalios, K., Hamilton, K., & Sandvig, C. (2015). "I always assumed that I wasn't really that close to [her]" Reasoning about invisible algorithms in news feeds. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 153–162). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702154
Eslami, M., Vaccaro, K., Lee, M. K., Elazari Bar On, A., Gilbert, E., & Karahalios, K. (2019). User attitudes towards algorithmic opacity and transparency in online reviewing platforms. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–14). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300835
Fast, E., & Horvitz, E. (2017). Long-term trends in the public perception of artificial intelligence. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v31i1.10635
Google. (2024). Advancing education using Google AI. Google for Education. https://edu.google.com/intl/ALL_us/ai/education/
Gu, X., & Ericson, B. J. (2025). AI literacy in K-12 and higher education in the wake of generative AI: An integrative review (arXiv:2503.00079). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2503.00079
Gunning, D. (2017). Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Kahn, K., & Winters, N. (2017). Child-friendly programming interfaces to AI cloud services. In Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2017) (pp. 566–570). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66610-5_52
Lintner, T. (2024). A systematic review of AI literacy scales. npj Science of Learning, 9(1), 50. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00262-1
Lo, L. S. (2024). Evaluating AI literacy in academic libraries: A survey study with a focus on US employees. College & Research Libraries, 85(5), 635. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.85.5.635
Long, D., & Magerko, B. (2020). What is AI literacy? Competencies and design considerations. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–16). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376727
Microsoft. (2024). AI in education: A Microsoft special report. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/msdownloads/AI-in-Education-A-Microsoft-Special-Report.pdf
Mills, K., Ruiz, P., Lee, K. W., Coenraad, M., Fusco, J., Roschelle, J., & Weisgrau, J. (2024). AI literacy: A framework to understand, evaluate, and use emerging technology. Institute of Educational Sciences.
Pangrazio, L., & Selwyn, N. (2021). Towards a school-based ‘critical data education’. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(3), 431–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2020.1739278
Pasquale, F. (2015). The black box society: The secret algorithms that control money and information. Harvard University Press.
Pinski, M., & Benlian, A. (2024). AI literacy for users–A comprehensive review and future research directions of learning methods, components, and effects. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 2(1), 100062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2024.100062
Shapiro, R. B., Fiebrink, R., & Norvig, P. (2018). How machine learning impacts the undergraduate computing curriculum. Communications of the ACM, 61(11), 27–29. https://doi.org/10.1145/3274241
Stone, P., Brooks, R., Brynjolfsson, E., Calo, R., Etzioni, O., Hager, G., Hirschberg, J., Kalyanakrishnan, S., Kamar, E., & Kraus, S. (2022). Artificial intelligence and life in 2030: The one hundred year study on artificial intelligence (arXiv:2211.06318). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2211.06318
Touretzky, D., Gardner-McCune, C., Martin, F., & Seehorn, D. (2019). Envisioning AI for K-12: What should every child know about AI? Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 33(1), 9795–9799. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v33i01.33019652
Yim, I. H. Y. (2024). A critical review of teaching and learning artificial intelligence (AI) literacy: Developing an intelligence-based AI literacy framework for primary school education. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 7, 100319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100319
Zimmerman, M. (2018). Teaching AI: Exploring new frontiers for learning. International Society for Technology in Education.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Black Sea Journal of Artificial Intelligence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.