Media Literacy Now is leading the grassroots movement to create a public education system that ensures all students learn the 21st century literacy skills they need for health, well-being, economic participation, and citizenship, recognizing that in the age of AI, media literacy and AI literacy have so much overlap that you can’t really have one without the other. As AI-generated content continues to inundate our screens, Media Literacy Now believes it is imperative to teach young people how these tools work, the impact they’re having on our lives, and how to use them ethically and responsibly. The organization leverages the passion and resources of the media literacy community to inform and drive policy change at local, state, and national levels in the U.S. to ensure all K-12 students are taught media literacy so that they become healthy, confident, and competent media consumers and creators.
Why it matters: Media Literacy Now recognizes that as AI-generated content inundates our screens, media literacy education must evolve beyond traditional skills to include understanding how AI tools work and their impact on our lives, making media and AI literacy inseparable. By driving policy change at local, state, and national levels rather than leaving media literacy education to individual teachers or schools, the organization ensures that all K-12 students—not just those in privileged districts—gain the 21st century literacy skills essential for health, well-being, economic participation, and citizenship. The grassroots movement demonstrates that media literacy is infrastructure for democracy and public health, requiring systemic change in public education policy.