Ways of [Machine] Seeing: Towards a new visual literacy in AI

How does image-based AI challenge existing approaches to the teaching of visual creativity? New digital tools such as Generative AI are easily adopted by young people through everyday media, but there is little or no formal guidance on how to use these technologies safely or responsibly. Our research aims to produce responsible AI skills resources that offer best practice for teacher training and curriculum development, introducing the necessary skills to address AI literacy in classroom settings.

Inspired by John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, and building on prior research, the project explores how visual culture and AI combine and suggest the need for ‘invisual literacy’. Above all, it recognises that meaningful innovation in education happens with teachers, not despite them. It is offered as a work in progress, and we welcome further contributions.

A longer project description is available at https://waysof.net/machine-seeing/about/ 

Activities and Achievements

This project has been developed in direct collaboration with art and design teachers in UK secondary schools to create, test, and refine a series of accessible, engaging activities exploring AI—specifically computer vision, machine learning, and generative art. Rather than imposing a top-down model of AI education, the project is rooted in co-creation, responding to teachers’ insights, needs, and existing practices, and without the need for specialised technical tools or expertise. The resulting activities invite students and teachers to make creative work while critically exploring AI tools, raising vital questions about authorship, bias, automation, and the importance of human imagination.

Ways of [Machine] Seeing: Reflections on Generative AI and Visual Literacy – watch the video here.

Impact

What’s at stake in our work is how art and design can help students understand how AI is shaping how they see the world and their place in it. If AI literacy is left solely to STEM subjects or computer science, we lose the opportunity to ask deeper human, cultural, and ethical questions—questions that art is uniquely equipped to explore. By empowering teachers to engage with AI through creative practice, we aim to support students in developing critical thinking, self-expression, and the tools to interrogate how technology influences their lives.

We continue to gauge impact in terms of curriculum and policy change.

Outputs and Outcomes