Why we need futures literacy for the AI revolution

A US president is portraying himself as Jesus in AI-generated images. The Hungarian election campaign was characterised by AI-generated content and disinformation on a completely new scale. Iranian state propaganda is using Lego videos to spread its narrative of war. What we are currently witnessing is a full-scale assault on our perception of reality.

Deepfakes as explosive world-building

We must stop viewing AI-generated images and deepfakes merely as «fake news». In reality, they are a highly effective tool for manipulative world-building. When a US president portrays himself as a Jesus-like figure, or election campaigns are flooded with AI-generated content, it is about more than just disinformation: Alternative realities are made so tangible that they shift what we consider possible. Yet these images need not be deceptively realistic. It is enough for them to occupy the mental space through sheer volume and narrative consistency, thereby deliberately undermining our collective capacity for action.

These synthetic visions of the future are so effective because they occupy our collective imaginations before we can fill them ourselves. Before we as a society can imagine our own alternative future, these images have already filled the space with a supposed reality. And whoever controls the images controls the imagination.

This attack on our collective capacity for action is a form of hybrid warfare that determines what kind of world we still consider conceivable at all.

The scientific evidence

The answer to this cannot lie solely in regulation. Yes, we need laws. But we also need a responsible civil society. And this is precisely the crux of the matter: in a world with AI technology, it is no longer enough simply to understand how an algorithm works (digital literacy). We must also learn how to deal with the radical uncertainty that this technology triggers (futures literacy).

We must not make the same mistake today as we did ten years ago, when the prevailing belief was that children simply needed to learn to code to be prepared for the digital future. Today we know that an understanding of technology remains worthless without the ability to contextualise it.

Recent studies highlight this urgency. According to a KOF study by ETH Zurich from October 2025, the number of job seekers in AI-exposed professions has already risen by 27 per cent more than in less exposed sectors. Young people in particular are affected by a vague sense of replaceability. This economic uncertainty is not just an individual problem, but a tangible threat to our democracy.

However, research also points in a different direction. Another ETH study by Takizawa and Grote shows that our assessment of uncertainty is malleable: people who view uncertainty not as a threat but as a space of possibilities that can be shaped are less likely to vote for anti-democratic parties, are more open to diversity, and are more supportive of social change. And this is where the link between digital literacy and futures literacy lies.

Two complementary skills

Digital literacy gives us the tools to understand how things work: how scams operate, how algorithms amplify opinions, how AI-generated content is produced. But this knowledge of technology alone is not enough to enable us to take effective action.

The deeper problem is that mass-generated content is constantly producing visions of the future. Visions that many of us would describe as undesirable. As language and images shape our reality, realities emerge insidiously that we have never actively chosen. We must be able to name something before we can strive for it or prevent it.

This is precisely why futures literacy is the necessary complement to technical competence. It is about regaining control over our own visions. We consistently integrate this approach into our projects in collaboration with our clients and partners: when it comes to AI transformations, we are never concerned solely with technical skills. We therefore deliberately combine digital literacy with futures literacy. Those who understand the technological underpinnings whilst learning to critically question visions of the future shift from reacting to shaping. In times of radical uncertainty, this connection is more important than ever.