George Mason researcher brings critical AI literacy program to Prince George’s County

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly transforms society, George Mason University researcher Thema Monroe-White is helping prepare the next generation not just to use the technology, but to navigate it thoughtfully and responsibly. Her work empowers students to understand AI's opportunities, limitations, and consequences, giving them the agency to make informed choices in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Monroe-White, an associate professor with appointments in the Department of Computer Science and the Schar School of Policy and Government, is part of a new $1 million initiative aimed at helping Prince George's County students understand not only how to use AI, but how AI works, who it affects, and when it should and should not be used.

The project is funded by the Pull Up Fund, a philanthropic organization focused on supporting youth in Prince George's County through its Youth AI Mastery and Proficiency initiative. George Mason is working with Ashley Griffin Gilchrist at Bowie State University and Evan Shieh at the Young Data Scientists League (YDSL) on the project. The initial award covers a one-year pilot, with the potential for two additional years of funding.

For Monroe-White, "AI mastery" shouldn't simply mean becoming proficient at using the latest AI platform. "To have or gain AI mastery requires not that you know how to prompt any given model," she said. Instead, students should understand some of the technical machinery underneath AI, including how models generate outputs, as well as the human and social systems surrounding the technology.

That approach, known as critical AI literacy, asks students to examine issues such as algorithmic bias, labor, privacy, surveillance, environmental impacts, and the human work involved in creating AI systems. It also encourages them to question the technology itself rather than treating AI as a mysterious digital oracle.

"What does it mean? What is it doing? How is it operating? How is it affecting my life?" Monroe-White said.

The Prince George's County initiative builds on work Monroe-White recently completed with New York City Public Schools and YDSL. Through the Exploring Equity in AI fellowship, educators explored ways to bring critical AI literacy into K-12 classrooms. The program defines AI literacy as encompassing not merely using AI, but "critiquing, researching, evaluating, (re)designing, and reimagining AI."

The New York effort included topics ranging from AI and consent and algorithmic auditing to data centers and questions about how "intelligent" artificial intelligence actually is. Monroe-White and YDSL Executive Director Evan Shieh served as facilitators of the Critical AI component. Monroe-White is also an external research collaborator with YDSL.

After completing the New York pilot and a public showcase in June, Monroe-White saw the Prince George's County project as an opportunity to expand the approach closer to home.

"We wanted to expand it and keep the work going," she said. "And so that's what we're doing with Maryland and this county."

Ultimately, Monroe-White wants young people to understand the technology well enough to make informed decisions about it themselves. Students, she said, should graduate "armed and equipped with the knowledge that most don't have that demystifies AI," allowing them to engage in meaningful conversations about when AI is appropriate and what consequences its use might have.

"It's more of an agency-based training," Monroe-White said. "It's lifting up their own individual agency so that they're empowered in this revolutionary moment."

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