As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly sophisticated, the capacity for reflection, checking, and taking action in a responsible manner will resist manipulation, writes Shaharima Parvin
THE digital age has provided us with more information than any other time in history. News, video and images reach us in seconds. But along with this abundance comes a new crisis: how do we know what鈥檚 real? With artificial intelligence that can churn out human-like text, resize and create voices, and create deepfake videos capable of fooling the sharpest of eyes, the very building blocks of truth are under threat. For years, we have been relying on the use of information literacy. It taught us how to search for information, how to assess the credibility of that information, and how to use it responsibly. But today it鈥檚 not enough just to find information and be able to cite. In the age of AI and deep fakes, we need a stronger and more comprehensive metaliteracy.
Metaliteracy is听the foundational anchor in the age of artificial intelligence since it is designed for equipping people not only to critically evaluate information but also to adapt and to ethically engage in rapidly evolving technologies. Generative AI is now capable of generating text, images, audio, and even code with a speed and fluency that was once unimaginable. This change required more than traditional literacy. It needs a framework that allows learners to engage with multimodal content, challenge authorship and learn about the wider social and ethical impacts of artificial intelligence. That framework is called metaliteracy.
Metaliteracy is not a substitute for information literacy but an essential expansion of it. Where information literacy focuses on accessing and evaluating knowledge, metaliteracy is adding new dimensions: self-reflection, collaboration and ethical responsibility. As scholars Thomas Mackey and Trudi Jacobson explain, metaliteracy brings several forms of literacy together into one larger narrative of media literacy, digital literacy, cyber literacy, visual literacy, and critical literacy. It focuses on critical education, moral involvement, and responsiveness to new technologies. It asks us to not only look outwardly at the information we consume but also inwardly at the information we create and share. In a world where a fake video can cause a population to rage at something in a particular way or a cloned voice can trick someone into transferring money, this larger skillset is no longer optional.
Metaliteracy serves as a critical anchor in the age of AI because it builds six fundamental associations: critical evaluation is required to differentiate between human-generated and AI-generated content. Multimodal fluency is essential because the learners must be enabled to navigate varying types of digital information, like texts, images, code, and algorithms. This is combined with ethical engagement, where people have to deal with serious problems such as prejudice, privacy and the authorship of content. Moreover, metaliteracy enables active participation, which empowers people to ethically develop and collaborate in the digital ecosystems. This involvement occurs under the principle of social awareness, which creates awareness of the effects of the society and facilitates equality. Lastly, the whole framework is also characterised by adaptability in the sense that learners will be able to effectively respond to and cope with sustained, swift technological change.
According to a Pew Research Center report in 2025, 38 per cent of American adults use Facebook and 35 per cent use YouTube on a regular basis to get news. This trend is echoed in Bangladesh, where social media platforms dominate the flow of information, but these platforms have no central 鈥榞atekeeper鈥�. Content is distributed unchecked, and it鈥檚 up to the user to weigh the truth or falsehood of the content. This is where metaliteracy is crucial.
Metaliteracy implies that we are taught to be more critical: Who created this content, and who created this material with what purpose in mind? Or is it the situation whereby this image or a video has been altered by AI? How will it be ethical in case I am sharing it further? Metaliteracy, in the knowledge ecosystem, provokes our reflection. The Bangladeshi setting makes it much more pressing. In a dramatic digital transformation in the country with nearly 14 crore digital users. Social media has gone ahead to assume information leadership for millions. With the changes also comes vulnerability. Poor-quality fake news already surrounds politics. Modified images and fake news are already common. No, it is not the technology but rather the absence of a robust culture of verification. People are sharing too much with little screens; institutions are struggling to keep pace; and laws are inadequate.
This loophole exposes citizens to the manipulation that can damage the trust in any media, disrupt any political state of affairs, and even social peace. The knowledge of bias and misinformation (media literacy) comes in but is limited. Metaliteracy is a new step, taking it a further notch higher. It trains citizens to question their own contribution to sharing false information, how algorithms will amplify certain content and how they can do good online.
So, what needs to be done? Bangladesh needs to invest in metaliteracy at all levels of society. Schools and universities should also include courses on how to identify deepfakes, how to verify sources, and how to think critically about AI-generated content. Awareness campaigns for the public can make citizens more careful about the things they put online. Fact-checking organisations (BD Fact Check, Fact Watch, etc.) need to be more visible and accessible. And the policymakers should enhance the legal and institutional framework to address AI-driven fraud in a way that allows protection of digital rights.
Metaliteracy is not some esoteric, academic word to get tucked away in textbooks. It is a civic necessity. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly sophisticated, the capacity for reflection, checking, and taking action in a responsible manner will resist manipulation. At the core of this question lies a simple truth 鈥� knowledge should remain in our control. Metaliteracy is the root that can help us stay grounded in the digital din.
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Shaharima Parvin is a senior assistant librarian at East West University.