Picture this: An eager employee adopts a new AI tool to boost their productivity. In their rush to deliver results, they overlook the privacy toggle. Within moments, sensitive company data is unknowingly shared, slipping into future AI training sets. What began as an innocent effort to excel and provide value has now escalated into a compliance nightmare.

Scenarios like this are becoming alarmingly common. The greatest risk to organizations isn’t malicious actors but high-performing employees striving to stand out. These are the team members eager to embrace AI tools to gain a competitive edge, but without proper guidance, their efforts can backfire. As AI integrates deeper into workplaces, what once seemed futuristic is now a daily reality. The potential is immense, but so are the challenges.

A challenge for L&D

For learning and development (L&D), this is a chance to step into a transformative role. AI is changing how work gets done, and the way people interact with technology needs to evolve alongside it. L&D is uniquely positioned to guide this shift, helping employees not just understand AI but embrace it as a partner. Performance and performance support remain at the heart of L&D’s mission, and AI offers a powerful opportunity to deliver on that mission in new ways. This means moving beyond basic training to building real skills in literacy and fluency, enabling employees to navigate risks, reimagine workflows, and innovate in ways that align with the organization’s goals.

AI Literacy provides the foundation. It equips employees with the essential knowledge to navigate AI responsibly, ensuring they avoid risks that could undermine progress or trust.

AI Fluency builds on this foundation. It takes employees beyond responsible use, empowering them to reimagine workflows, solve problems creatively, and unlock AI’s potential as a true partner. With fluency, teams are not just users of AI but innovators who leverage it to drive meaningful change. 

AI literacy: Establishing the safety net

AI literacy is the foundation of responsible adoption. Like cybersecurity training, it equips employees with the essential knowledge to interact confidently with AI while avoiding costly mistakes.

Without literacy, even the most well-meaning employees can expose their organizations to unnecessary risks. A misplaced reliance on AI outputs, a misunderstanding of privacy settings, or an inability to spot bias in algorithms can lead to breaches of trust, or worse.

Literacy builds trust

But literacy is more than just risk management. It’s about building trust. Employees who understand how AI works and what its limitations become more confident in using it. They are less likely to resist new technologies and more likely to adopt them responsibly.

AI literacy encompasses three core competencies:

  • First, employees need a clear understanding of what AI is and how it processes information. They don’t need to become data scientists, but they must grasp the fundamentals.
  • Second, they need to recognize risks. These include everything from algorithmic bias or potential hallucinations to privacy issues; and they need the knowledge of how to mitigate them.
  • Finally, they need to ensure their AI use is within organizational policies and ethical guidelines. 

Basic AI literacy is the key to understanding these policies and guidelines in the first place, understanding why they prescribe what they prescribe, and understanding how to work within the lines they draw.

Organizations that prioritize literacy often embed it into their compliance programs, treating it as they would cybersecurity training.

AI fluency: Removing barriers

If literacy is the foundation, fluency is the bridge to innovation. AI fluency goes beyond understanding. It is about active, creative use of AI to solve problems, reimagine workflows, and unlock new opportunities.

Fluency transforms employees into creators and innovators. Instead of relying on established approaches, AI-fluent teams experiment with tools, iterate on ideas, and integrate AI into their workflows. They push boundaries, testing and refining new processes that enhance both efficiency and creativity.

This level of competency does more than improve performance. It aligns individual contributions with organizational goals. Fluency empowers employees to bring fresh ideas to leadership, ensuring that innovation happens at every level of the organization. Bridging this gap between strategy and execution is critical for successful AI adoption.

Developing fluency requires more than technical training. It demands a cultural shift where employees feel safe to experiment, learn from failure, and collaborate across functions. When experienced practitioners partner with operational teams, they co-create solutions that are innovative and practical, driving lasting change.

Integrating AI literacy and fluency in L&D

The journey from literacy to fluency does not happen overnight. It requires a structured approach that builds foundational knowledge, fosters experimentation, and scales capabilities across the organization. Here's how organizations can move through the phases of AI competency:

Phase 1: Establish Literacy

  • Conduct an AI risk audit to identify high-priority gaps.
  • Roll out foundational AI training, focusing on ethics, security, and responsible use.

Phase 2: Cultivate and grow Fluency

  • Embed hands-on learning opportunities into workflows.
  • Encourage experimentation with AI tools, rewarding curiosity and lessons learned, especially from failures.

Phase 3: Lead with Fluency

  • Make fluency a leadership priority by equipping managers to model AI fluency.
  • Measure success through metrics like the number of employee-led AI initiatives or the number of tasks and procedures enhanced by AI.

Correctly implemented, these phases create a workforce that doesn't merely understands AI, but one that can thrive with AI.

Bridge the gap: Create a more resilient & innovative workforce

The integration of AI into our organizations isn’t slowing down, it’s accelerating. For L&D professionals, the challenge isn’t whether to engage with AI, but how. AI literacy and fluency are the foundation of a resilient and innovative workforce.

Literacy provides the safety net, ensuring teams minimize risks and operate responsibly. 

Fluency removes imperceptible barriers, enabling employees to unlock the full potential of AI and drive meaningful change. 

Together, they create the conditions for organizations to not just adapt to the AI era, but to lead it, through their workforce and the innovative ideas that emanate from within, in addition to the strategic direction that comes from the top.

The time to act is now. Are you ready to bridge the gap?