AI skills are now needed by all students in every field and organization. This document focuses on the top ten industries/organizations, explains how AI is already being used in those fields, and breaks down the AI skills and subskills needed by all students.
AI Literacy is an imperative that all students need to develop in order to be more competitive and effective in the workforce, to enhance their own learning, gain greater access to information, improve their research capabilities, and be better citizens with resistance to deepfakes and digital propaganda. This isn’t a hyperbally or future concern; this is the reality of today. “Use of AI in Industries and Organizations: 2025” is an original document created by the Sovorel Center for Teaching & Learning and written by Director Brent A. Anders, PhD. Its purpose is to help all of academia see and understand the real need for AI Literacy and specific AI skills for all fields.
In an effort to help all of academia and the rest of the world, this document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) so that it can be fully used by others.
The last year has been one of significant strides for RNL. We embarked on a journey to enhance our existing tools, aiming to provide our partners with even more powerful and effective solutions. This commitment has driven us to develop a suite of AI-powered tools designed to strengthen your connections with students and donors.
A focus on data-driven decisions and user-friendly solutions
Our primary goal was to create AI tools that are not only secure but also user-friendly and insightful. We aimed to provide you with a comprehensive view of your data, empowering you to make informed decisions and develop winning strategies. We understand the importance of ease of use, ensuring that our tools are accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical expertise.
Key achievements: RNL Insights, Compass, and RNL Answers
RNL Insights: This AI-powered data management platform revolutionizes how you work with your data. By integrating data from various sources, including your enrollment CRM, financial aid modeling tool, and marketing analytics, Insights provides a unified view for informed decision-making. Its intuitive conversational interface allows you to ask questions and receive immediate answers, uncovering valuable insights you might have otherwise missed.
RNL Compass: Our AI-powered digital assistant, Compass, streamlines communication and enhances efficiency. By automating responses to common student and parent inquiries, Compass frees up your admissions team to focus on more strategic tasks. Integrated with your CRM, Compass provides personalized answers, ensuring each interaction is tailored to the individual’s needs.
RNL Answers: This AI copilot leverages your institution’s private data to provide valuable insights and support. Whether it’s crafting compelling marketing messages, assisting traveling admissions officers, or building robust knowledge bases for new team members, RNL Answers offers a secure and reliable AI-powered solution.
Beyond technology: Empowering partners with AI expertise
We recognize the importance of responsible AI adoption. To this end, we have introduced AI Governance and Education Consulting Services. These services provide guidance on integrating AI into your institution, including:
AI Education: Training leadership teams, faculty, and staff on the fundamentals of AI.
AI Governance Frameworks: Assisting in the development of frameworks that ensure ethical and responsible AI usage.
Collaboration and continuous improvement
To ensure our solutions remain aligned with your evolving needs, we have established the Leadership AI Council and the Product Advisory Council. These groups, comprised of our valued partners, provide valuable feedback and insights, shaping the future of our AI-powered solutions.
Looking ahead: A future of innovation
We have also began migrating some of the outbound communication tools our agents use to deliver your omnichannel outreach services to our new all-in-one platform—RNL Reach. While as a partner, your involvement in transitioning to RNL Reach is very minimal, but you will feel the benefit of the solution because your agents will be able to be more efficient in how they execute your campaigns and provide stronger analytics and reporting. This is the first step to making the new solutions and services we have planned in 2025 possible!
In 2025, we are committed to building upon the strong foundation we’ve established this year. We will leverage our expertise in consulting, data analysis, and AI to develop innovative solutions that address your unique challenges and help you achieve your goals.
A note of gratitude
We extend our sincere gratitude to all our partners for their trust and collaboration. We are honored to work alongside you and contribute to your success. We look forward to a continued partnership in the years to come.
Discover RNL Edge, the AI solution for higher education
RNL Edge is a comprehensive suite of higher education AI solutions that will help you engage constituents, optimize operations, and analyze data instantly—all in a highly secure environment that keeps your institutional data safe. With limitless uses for enrollment and fundraising, RNL Edge is truly the AI solution built for the entire campus.
In a recent presentation to RNL’s AI Leadership Council, Armand Ruiz, Vice President of Product – AI Platform at IBM, shared his vision for the future of work and the role of AI agents in making it more efficient.
According to Ruiz, AI agents will become a key component of the future of work, enabling tasks to be completed autonomously and freeing up humans to focus on higher-level thinking. “The real promise of AI is in agents, which can actually do work and take action,” he said. “We’re moving into a world where we have multi-agent assistance, where multiple agents work together to achieve a common goal.”
Ruiz also highlighted the importance of addressing the challenges of security, governance, and compliance in the use of AI agents in enterprise settings. “We cannot allow these agents to leak sensitive and confidential information, delete files or send data to the wrong recipients,” he emphasized.
In terms of the future of work, Ruiz predicted that most General AI interactions will be in the form of autonomous agents, with 2/3 or 3/4 of the General AI workforce consisting of agents. He cited the example of GitHub, where an agent can automatically fix bugs and issues, freeing up developers to focus on higher-level tasks.
Ruiz also discussed the potential impact of AI agents on education, citing the example of a tool that can take notes and create an outline from handwritten notes. “We’re moving into a world where AI will develop AI by itself, and AI will develop agents automatically,” he said.
Regarding the recent developments in deep learning, Ruiz said that the market’s reaction to the release of the DeepSeek model was an overreaction. “We’ve been pushing for open innovation and open source at IBM, and it’s not surprising that someone else has come into the market with a similar model,” he said. “This will actually increase the demand for chips and energy and will unlock more consumption of AI and more use cases.”
When asked about the potential impact on decisions related to data centers, Ruiz said that the increased demand for chips and energy will lead to a surge in consumption of AI, particularly in inference workloads. “We see a lot of micro inference going on, and it requires more compute than a regular model,” he explained.
The presentation sparked a lively discussion among the attendees, with several questions and comments from the audience. Ruiz emphasized the importance of addressing the challenges of governance, compliance, working with a trusted partner who understands what you are trying to accomplish with AI, and the need for education and training in the use of these tools.
As the presentation came to a close, Stephen Drew, COO of RNL and chair of the AI Leadership Council, reflected on the importance of working with companies that understand the unique needs of higher education and are committed to the responsible use of AI. “As institutions like RNL continue to navigate the complex landscape of AI and its applications, we are focused on working with our partner universities to help them establish AI governance frameworks, educate their teams on responsible AI, and incorporating AI into our services so our clients benefit from the efficiencies AI offers along with the higher education expertise at RNL,” he said.
Learn more about RNL’s AI governance services and how they can support your institution’s AI initiatives here.
There is no longer any way to deny that AI Literacy is a must for all people. Regardless of whether you are a student, faculty, young, or old, all of us must continually develop our AI Literacy to effectively function and excel in our AI-infused world. The importance of everyone developing their AI Literacy has been expressed by virtually all nations and international organizations (UN, 2024; UN, 2024b). Additionally, many business organizations have expressed that in order to be competitive in the workforce, AI Literacy is now an imperative employment skill (Marr, 2024).
The following Sovorel video and infographic (in addition to the above infographic) provide key components of AI Literacy and specifics regarding prompt engineering and using an advanced prompt formula:
AI Literacy: Prompt Engineering, Advanced Prompt Formula Infographic (this infographic, the main AI Literacy infographic, and many more are also available within the infographics section: https://sovorelpublishing.com/index.php/infographics)
References
Cisco. (2024, July 31). AI and the workforce: Industry report calls for reskilling and upskilling as 92 percent of technology roles evolve. Cisco. https://investor.cisco.com/news/news-details/2024/AI-and-the-Workforce-Industry-Report-Calls-for-Reskilling-and-Upskilling-as-92-Percent-of-Technology-Roles-Evolve/default.aspx
Marr, B. (2024, October 24). The 5 most in-demand skills in 2025. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2024/10/14/the-5-most-in-demand-skills-in-2025/
UN. (2024). Addendum on AI and Digital Government. United Nations. https://desapublications.un.org/sites/default/files/publications/2024-10/Addendum%20on%20AI%20and%20Digital%20Government%20%20E-Government%20Survey%202024.pdf
UN. (2024b). Governing AI for humanity. United Nations. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/governing_ai_for_humanity_final_report_en.pdf
I’m very happy and excited to share that I have released a new book that is geared specifically to helping universities, as well as all educational institutions, with the very important topic of generative AI integration into education. This is a vital process that higher education and all places of learning need to address in order to become and stay relevant in a world that so filled with AI. All of us in academia must develop AI Literacy skills in order to fully develop these skills within our students. If educational institutions do not integrate this important process now, then they will not be properly setting up their students for success. This book specifically provides an action plan to help educational institutions be part of the solution and to better ensure success.
Here is a video trailer for the 9 Point Action Plan: for Generative AI Integration into Education book:
Chapter 2: Leadership Guidance on Utilization of Generative AI
Examples
Michigan State University Example
Yale University Example
Template Example: Leadership Guidance on Generative AI in Education
Implementation
Chapter 3: Training
Faculty Training
Staff Training
Student Training
Examples
American University of Armenia Example
Arizona State University Example
Other Examples
Implementation
Chapter 4: Generative AI Teaching & Learning Resources
Examples
University of Arizona
American University of Armenia
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
Implementation
Chapter 5: Outside Information/Confirmation
Bring in an Outside Speaker, Presenter, Facilitator
Examples
Obtain Employers’/Organizations’ Views & Ideas on Needed AI Skills
Implementation
Chapter 6: Syllabus AI Use Statement
Examples
Tuffs University Example
Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science
American University of Armenia Example
Implementation
Chapter 7: Strategic Plan Integration
Components of a Good Strategic Plan and AI Considerations
Environmental Analysis
Review of Organizational Vision/Mission
Identification of Strategic Goals and Objectives
Key Performance Indicators
Integration of AI Literacy into the Curriculum
Example: White Paper: Integration of AI Literacy into Our Curriculum
Chapter 8: Integration Observation and Evaluation
Chapter 9: Community Outreach
Example Benefits of Community Outreach
Implementation
Chapter 10: Conclusion and Call to Action
Glossary
References
Additional Resources
As with all of my books, please reach out if you have any questions. I can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter. I also respond to all comments placed this blog or through YouTube. Please also join the Sovorel Center for Teaching and Learning Facebook page where I post a lot of updates.
Everyone needs to develop AI Literacy skills in order to use AI properly and increase effectiveness/efficiencies, yet another vital part of AI Literacy is to develop critical thinking and awareness skills to avoid being deceived by synthetic data such as AI created deepfakes. Cyber Magazine, an international news source, expressed the importance of this issue by stating:
Deepfakes are inevitably becoming more advanced, which is making it harder to spot and stop those that are used with bad intentions. As access to synthetic media technology increases, deepfakes can be used to damage reputations, fabricate evidence and undermine trust.
With deepfake technology increasingly being used for mal-intent, businesses would do well to ensure that their workforce is fully trained and aware of the risks associated with AI-generated content. (Jackson, 2023)
To address this important issue I have created the TRAP test:
T: Think Critically. All of us must now have a critical awareness and mindset when using any type of digital media since all digital media can now be easily manipulated and created with generative AI. When encountering any digital text, images, audio, or video we need to realize that it might not be real and it might be trying to manipulate our perception. We need to use the TRAP test to ask further questions to help ensure that we are getting the object truth.
R: Realistic/Reliable/Reputable: When using digital media or viewing a video, we need to ask ourselves the question “does this seem real and is it likely to occur?” We must also consider whether or not the source of the information is reliable and if it is coming from a reputable source. Is it from an official source, a well known news source, a government agency, or established organization? Always check the source.
A: Accurate/Authority: Check to see if all parts of the digital media are accurate. As an example, if watching a video, are all parts accurate and consistent. Are there any issues with the eyes, the background, or the light sources? Is it similar and consistent with other videos, images, or text? Additionally, has the media been released or authenticated by an authority? These questions must be verified and answered to help ensure validity and accuracy.
P: Purpose/Propaganda: When reviewing any digital media we must ask ourselves, “what is the purpose of this media? If the answer is that they are trying to get your money or to sway your vote in an election then you should be extra sure that the information is completely truthful. Ask yourself if the digital information presented is simply just propaganda, full of bias and misleading. Be sure to ask if there is more to the story that you are reading/watching.
Using the TRAP test and asking these questions will help to prevent everyone from being scammed and/or deceived. Students, faculty, and everyone must develop AI Literacy skills like these.
All aspect of this defined AI Literacy are important (Anders, 2023), but Awareness and Critical Thinking are key in developing the proper mindset to use the TRAP test. This is something that must be continually developed and used in order to ensure its greatest effectiveness.
All of us in academia must work to ensure that student and everyone else develop these skills to use AI in the right way and be able to properly spot AI deepfakes and avoid being deceived. Please share this information with colleagues, students, family, and friend; especially the elderly who can at times be even more vulnerable. Together we make a major difference and improve our new world filled with AI.
A video describing the TRAP test is also available on the Sovorel Educational YouTube channel:
“How to Spot a Deepfake and NOT Be Deceived” (Anders, 2024)
Please share your thoughts and comment below:
References
Anders, B. (2023). The AI literacy imperative: Empowering instructors & students. Sovorel Publishing.
In working with many different instructors around the world, I still run into a lot of teachers and professors that think that using AI and teaching about AI Literacy in the classroom is an all or nothing endeavor. They have the false belief that you either have use AI in every part of your teaching, for every assignments, or you can’t use AI at all. The reality is that there is a full continuum of how an instructor can use and implement generative AI within their classroom.
The infographic provided in this post is an example of the many different ways that an instructor could use generative AI within their teaching and learning process. To begin with an instructor could simply just talk about generative AI. This is beneficial on a multiple of levels in that for one it helps student understand that the instructor is at least aware of generative AI. Additionally, talking about AI helps students develop their AI Literacy skills which is something that all of us in academia must continually develop within ourselves so that we can can properly develop it within all of our students.
The continuum of AI integration into learning that proceeds with different levels of use of AI in the classroom. This could be done in a way so that the instructor uses generative AI, such as ChatGPT, in front of the students so that then everyone can then discuss and answer questions about the interaction and the created results. Another way to implement could be that students use the AI in class for different activities. A more advanced way would be for students to have homework assignments where they would have to us the AI in some way to complete a task or as part of a group project.
A key consideration with AI integration is that every instructor must be knowledgeable about the topic to be taught and their students needs. Instructors need to make purposeful choices as to when to us AI and in what ways. A great tool to help with the creating or redesigning assessments and assignments given that we know have generative AI is the following infographic titled “Redesigning Assignments & Assessment in Age of AI.”
The SHARE Technique to Assist in Redesigning Assignments and Assessments in the Age of AI
This infographic is very benifitial in that in addition to helping all with the creation of assignments/assessments in the age of AI, it helps instructors to create good and effective assignments/assessment in general. Faculty need to be purposful and really think about assignments and learning activeities in order to help students learn the material and also develop appropriate AI Literacy skills.
View this following video for additional information on integrating AI in the classroom:
What are your thoughts? Please add to the comments so that we can all learn from one another.
For all of us in academia that are now working on properly developing AI Literacy within ourselves so as to then be able to develop AI Literacy within our students, we must ask ourselves how have we directly developed students to properly use AI in an ethical matter without violating academic integrity. We must ensure that we are taking all the necessary steps to set students up for success in multiple ways: Freshman orientation, school assemblies, posters, class discussions/activities, etc. all to help students understands that there are different ways of using AI and that its use is appropriate at times and not appropriate at other times.
The associated Infographic has been designed to directly help students in understanding how to use AI in a proper manner and specifically in a way that will not violate academic integrity. For a full and detailed explanation of this infographic, please check out the associated video:
AI Literacy is a necessity now. Students are already using AI. We in academia must ensure that they know not only how to use AI, but to use it effectively and ethically. Please use this infographic, please share this infographic with as many students and academics as possible so that we can help as many students as possible.
What are your thoughts? What would you add to help students even more?
This is my new book that I am very excited about because I think that it can really help a lot of people, especially instructors (at all levels) and students. It is vital and truly an imperative that we in academia help develop AI Literacy. Available on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, or hardback: https://www.amazon.com/AI-Literacy-Imperative-Empowering-Instructors/dp/B0C51RLPCG
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The AI Literacy Imperative: Empowering Instructors & Students” is a seminal work that delves into the critical need for everyone to have AI Literacy in modern society, especially in academia. The book explains how educators must have a deep understanding of the key aspects of AI literacy: Awareness, Capability, Knowledge, and Critical Thinking, to effectively teach this vital skill to students.
Drawing upon extensive research and practical experience, author Brent A. Anders, PhD. presents a comprehensive guide for instructors to integrate AI literacy into their curriculum. By exploring the fundamental concepts and applications of AI, this book empowers educators to equip their students with the skills necessary for success in both their professional and personal lives in our new AI integrated society.
Throughout the book, a deep understanding of the complexities of AI and its implications for society are demonstrated. Through a rigorous exploration of the latest research and pedagogical considerations, the book provides educators with a clear roadmap for teaching AI literacy in a way that is understandable, manageable, motivational, and upholds academic integrity.
“The AI Literacy Imperative: Empowering Instructors & Students” is a must-read for educators, students, instructional designers, librarians, researchers, and everyone else. By providing a comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide on the main components of AI literacy, covering everything from overreliance, writing assignments with AI, deepfakes, ethical considerations, future possibilities, and much more in-between, this book helps everyone better understand AI, use it more effectively in education, and help create a better AI integrated.
