How AI enhanced rise of digital literacy – By Aditya Abeysinghe
Digital literacy
Digital literacy is a person’s technical ability to find, create, and communicate information. Not only technical ability, digital literacy is also a person’s cognitive ability to use and produce data. At the time of its initial definition, digital literacy referred to a person’s technical capability of using devices such as personal computers. With the use of the Internet, portable devices, and software, the meaning also contains a person’s knowledge on the use of such devices and services.
Why use AI?
Early use of personal computers involved use of offline software such as word processing, presentation software and using a command line. Only limited use of large scale analysis, remote connections, and remote communications were required. During the early 2000s, with the rapid use of the Internet, the use of digital devices changed and services carried in large scale devices were available to portable devices.
During this period, many types of smart digital hardware were created. Digital devices were not considered luxury items and many people started to interact with others using digital platforms. However, a method to automatically serve large number of remote users was required. Also, the ability to perform complex analysis with less cost, time, and error was considered by businesses which transformed to digital platforms. Most providers of digital services changed from manual to automated processes by using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Social media
Social media is one type of digital media that is largely used to communicate with others. With social networking websites, a web of social connections is seen with most of the world’s human population connected with some social networking platform. Digital literacy in most under developed and semi-developed countries grew with the use of social media. By connecting with others using a website or a mobile app, people improved how to create and share data, how to communicate, and how to use services and devices. Most functions such as suggestions, posts shown in a user’s homepage used in social media are handled with AI models. These models enhanced use of social media and enhanced literacy of services.
Marketing and online markets
Online marketing websites are another type of service that changed use of online services. People changed how they bought items and how they used advertising to market products. Many sellers today use digital service providers and sell online at less effort for marketing. Customers could purchase items at competitive and discounted prices from remote sellers. Most functionalities in these platforms such as recommendation of sellers, products, and ratings provided by the platform are processed using models.
Chatbots
Chatbots are used in both messaging and in customer service. In customer support, chatbots have enhanced services by minimizing queues in serving customers and reducing costs. Most people today use support that is generated from chatbots without using live support. These chatbots have enhanced use of services provided by digital devices. AI is the backend of these chatbots and involves all data processing between a business’s core services and the user.
Image courtesy: https://www.zapseller.com/
