AI Fluency for students

Anthropic

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                Estimated time: 40 minutes

What you'll learn

By the end of this lesson you'll be able to:

• Understand what it means to be "the human in the loop" in AI interactions
• Create a personal AI collaboration policy that reflects your values
• Develop guidelines for responsible AI use in your academic and professional life
• Build a framework for continued growth in AI Fluency

Being the human in the loop & developing a personal commitment

This video explores what it means to be "the human in the loop"—the decision-maker who steers AI interactions with judgment, creativity, and ethics. It emphasizes that being human in the loop means you decide what to ask, evaluate whether AI outputs make sense, and bring your values to every interaction. The video encourages creating a personal AI collaboration policy that includes when you'll engage with AI (and when you won't), how you'll use it for learning, transparency commitments, and strategies for keeping skills sharp. It stresses that continuous reflection on AI practice is crucial, asking questions like: Is this helping me grow? Am I developing needed skills? Am I being honest about AI's role? The video concludes by highlighting that your humanity—your specific talents, experiences, and perspectives—remains uniquely valuable and irreplaceable.

Key takeaways

• Being the "human in the loop" means maintaining decision-making control in all AI interactions
• A personal commitment to responsible AI use helps navigate ethical complexities
• Regular reflection on AI practice ensures continued growth and alignment with values
• Your human insight, judgment, and care remain irreplaceable
• AI Fluency is a journey of continuous learning and ethical development

Exercises

This comprehensive exercise helps you develop a thoughtful, practical policy for your AI use that you'll actually follow.

Part 1: Foundation Building (10 minutes)

Go offline to consider everything you’ve learned in this course and jot down your initial thoughts.

Exploring your values and boundaries:

Think through:

• Your core values around learning, integrity, and achievement
• Situations where you absolutely will not use AI (your "red lines")
• Areas where AI support feels appropriate and beneficial
• How you want others to perceive your AI use
• What kind of professional you want to become

In addition, consider the perspectives of others:

• How would you want your classmates to use AI?
• What would you think if your professor used AI in different ways?
• How would you want employees to use AI if you were an employer?
• What uses of AI would make you uncomfortable if others did them?

Part 2: Drafting Your Policy (20 minutes)

Share this context with AI and discuss different sections of your policy (sample topics below - make them your own!):

Section 1: When I Will and Won't Use AI Define clear boundaries:

• Learning situations where AI is appropriate (practice, exploration, building understanding, applying knowledge)
• Situations where I'll work independently (exams, demonstrating mastery, original thinking)
• Professional contexts where AI adds value
• Times when human-only work is essential

Section 2: How I'll Use AI for Learning Specify your approach:

• AI as tutor/coach, not homework completer
• Maintaining ability to explain everything I submit
• Using AI to enhance understanding, not bypass it
• Specific strategies that have worked for me

Section 3: Transparency Commitments Define your disclosure standards:

• When I'll proactively disclose AI assistance
• How I'll document AI contributions
• What level of detail I'll provide
• How I'll handle ambiguous situations

Section 4: Skill Maintenance Protect your capabilities:

• Core skills I'll practice without AI
• Regular "AI-free" work to maintain abilities
• How I'll verify I'm still learning
• Signs that I'm over-relying on AI (and signs that I may be under-utilizing AI!)

Section 5: Ethical Guidelines Your personal ethics:

• Accuracy and fact-checking responsibilities
• Respect for others' work and ideas
• Privacy and data considerations
• Other impacts of AI and computer use

Section 6: Continued Growth Planning for the future:

• How I'll stay updated on AI capabilities
• Regular reflection intervals
• Adjusting policies as I learn
• Sharing knowledge with others

Part 3: Making It Real (5 minutes)

Review your draft policy with the AI:

• Is this realistic given your context and constraints?
• How will you maintain accountability?
• Practice applying the policy to a few real scenarios (a course revision, an assignment, a job application, even just a little personal project)
• Ask the AI to help format this as a clear, professional document Keep it concise enough to actually reference Include date created and plan for updates Save in multiple places for easy access
• Use it and maybe share it and discuss it with a friend

What's next

Congratulations on completing AI Fluency for Students! You now have:

• A framework (4Ds) for thoughtful AI interactions that are effective, efficient, ethical and safe
• An approach to AI augmented learning that enhances rather than replaces your own talent, effort and education
• An approach to AI augmented career thinking and job seeking that maintains authenticity while helping you to communicate your unique experiences more effectively
• A personal AI policy that reflects your individual values and sets you up not just as a responsible AI user but as an AI leader.

Take the final quiz in the next lesson to receive your certificate of completion of this course material.

Feedback

As you progress through the course, we'd love to hear from you about how you are using concepts from the course in your life, work, or classes and any feedback you may have. Share your feedback here.

Acknowledgements

Copyright 2025 Rick Dakan, Joseph Feller, and Anthropic. Released under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. This course is based on The AI Fluency Framework by Dakan and Feller.Supported in part by the Higher Education Authority, Ireland, through the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning.

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