Green Sheet interviews Adya Tewari, co-founder, AI Literacy Project

Adya Tewari is helping lead a new generation of AI education. The high school student and her co-founder, Saanvi Chawla, launched the AI Literacy Project to teach students and communities how to understand and use artificial intelligence responsibly. Through presentations and interactive programs, the project aims to raise awareness about AI opportunities and risks. Tewari spoke with The Green Sheet about what inspired the initiative and their plans for expanding AI literacy.

Green Sheet: What sparked the idea for the AI Literacy Project?

Adya Tewari: What initially sparked my interest in AI education was watching my younger sister scroll through YouTube. In one AI-generated video, a person put their hand under a soap dispenser and the soap bubbles transformed into a cat. Seeing her believe that cats could actually come out of a soap dispenser made me realize how important AI education is, especially for younger people.

The broader idea for the AI Literacy Project grew from how prevalent AI had become in the world around me. I went from barely hearing about AI outside of sci-fi movies to seeing it incorporated into everything. It shifted from feeling like a distant dream to becoming part of my everyday life.

GS: As high school students, what inspired you and your co-founder, Saanvi Chawla, to step into the role of educators in such a complex, fast-moving field?

AT: In addition to understanding that many populations are vulnerable to AI-related scams and traps, we also see in our school that people often misuse AI. Cheating and plagiarism using AI has become such a big issue so fast in schools, which leads teachers to paint it out to be something that's completely negative.

What inspired Saanvi and me to step into this role is our shared belief that AI is not completely negative. We both believe that AI, if used properly, helps people learn and grow.

GS: What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about AI? 

AT: As I mentioned above, some misconceptions people have about AI is that it's this completely harmful tool that takes away from learning. Yes, this can be true in some use cases of AI. However, usually this is not the case. AI offers so many great benefits, even in school settings. AI tools can be used to provide personalized learning, often explaining concepts to students better than teachers can.

This isn't to say that AI is a replacement for teachers; however, it can be used to tailor the teaching style to each student. I think that while it's completely possible that AI can take away from learning, the most important aspect is AI awareness. If students know how to use AI to their advantage without having it replace them, it can really push them to the next level.

GS: What does AI literacy actually mean to you?

AT: To me, AI literacy is being able to use AI to further learning, and to grow as a person. AI literacy isn't just being able to use ChatGPT to do schoolwork. It's so much more than that. It's being able to prompt AI to do exactly what you want it to do and knowing AI's limits. AI doesn't know everything, so it's important to know and acknowledge what AI can and can't do.

AI literacy will soon be as important as skills such as reading and writing, so it's important to promote it to get the younger generation to that level.

GS: How have people responded to your presentations?

AT: We have various interactive parts of our presentations, such as questions for the kids to answer. We also have a Kahoot style game at the end of our presentations, and we find that bringing candy often gets the kids to be more interested.

At first we struggled with getting kids to participate, but I think as we've presented to more and more kids in different schools and age groups, we're able to find ways to get more kids to interact with us. Overall, we get a positive response from the presentations. A lot of kids have come up to us to ask more questions after our presentations and most of them say that they enjoyed it, which is great.

GS: What are some best practices that you believe businesses should adopt when using AI?

AT: I think businesses should use AI as much or as little as they need. It can be a valuable tool in many industries, especially in terms of making things more efficient. Additionally, in industries such as cybersecurity, AI tools can be used to detect deepfakes or other AI tools that are used for scams or to spread misinformation.

As long as businesses are considering the potential risks with using AI, which can include privacy issues and misinformation, AI is a great tool that can make many industries faster and often better.

GS: What is your long-term vision for the AI literacy project?

AT: My vision right now for the AI literacy project is definitely to reach as many people as possible. In the long-term, we're hoping to build a Train the Trainer type of model, allowing an expanded reach for the project and letting other people take over if Saanvi and I are unavailable.

GS: How can payments industry stakeholders support your mission and vision? 

AT: They can support our mission by partnering with us to expand AI literacy and scam prevention efforts across the community. As financial institutions and fintech companies confront rising AI-driven fraud, they have the expertise to invest, as well as the resources, in education that helps vulnerable groups recognize scams before the financial harm actually occurs.

For more information about the AI Literacy Project, visit ethicalaieducation.lovable.app/

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