Why we can't teach AI Literacy yet

We asked one of the most respected education technology researchers in the world a simple question: how should schools teach students to use AI?His answer? We don't know yet, and pretending we do is the problem.Justin Reich is an Associate Professor at MIT and Director of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, author of Failure to Disrupt (Harvard University Press), host of the TeachLab podcast, and the force behind The Homework Machine — a landmark 7-part podcast series investigating what's really happening with AI in classrooms across the US.In this conversation with Svenia Busson, Justin explores:Why "AI literacy" follows the same broken playbook as digital citizenship and computational thinking — and will likely fail students the same wayWhat the history of web literacy teaches us: it took 25 years to find strategies that actually workWhy domain expertise — not AI knowledge — may be the most critical factor in using AI wellWhat to make of "AI-powered" schools like Alpha SchoolWhat students themselves are saying: two-thirds of US students say AI is harming their critical thinkingWhy "the homework machine" is the most honest name for what's happening in classrooms todayAlso mentioned in this episode:Mike Caulfield's SIFT framework for teaching web literacy: https://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/c.php?g=1241077&p=9082322A Guide to AI in Schools: Perspectives for the Perplexed — MIT Teaching Systems Lab guidebook (August 2025) https://tsl.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GuideToAIInSchools.pdf"Stop Pretending to Know How to Teach AI" — Justin's article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (November 2025) https://www.chronicle.com/article/stop-pretending-you-know-how-to-teach-aiThe Homework Machine podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-homework-machine-what-ai-is-really-doing-in-classrooms/id583456652?i=1000747231954 (a must listen)