Literacy in the Age of AI: Why Reading Skills Are Your Team's Superpower

Here's a sobering reality: the average American consumes 34 gigabytes of information every single day according to UC San Diego's Global Information Industry Center study (link). Meanwhile, 45 million Americans are functionally illiterate and cannot read above a fifth-grade reading level according to The Literacy Project (link). In Canada, 49% of adults have literacy skills that fall below a high school level, which negatively affects their ability to function at work and in their personal lives (link). Yet many workplace documents require higher-level comprehension skills.

Now throw generative AI into the mix. We're not just reading, we're fact-checking AI outputs, interpreting data visualizations, and making split-second decisions about information credibility. According to the latest 2023 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), 28% of adults scored at or below Level 1 literacy, with adults scoring in the lowest levels of literacy increased 9 percentage points between 2017 and 2023 (link). This means that a large number of adults in North America struggle with basic reading comprehension and that this number increased steadily from 2017 to 2023.

A crucial part of this scenario is that the same cognitive processes that make someone a strong reader also make them better at navigating information-rich digital environments. That's where game-based learning gets interesting.

The Literacy Skills Breakdown: More Than Just Reading

Literacy isn't just about recognizing words on a page. Modern workplace literacy demands three core competencies:

Text Comprehension & Analysis - The ability to extract meaning, identify main ideas, and understand context from written material. This includes everything from email chains to technical documentation.

Information Processing & Synthesis - Taking multiple sources of information and creating coherent understanding. This includes comparing vendor proposals, analyzing market research, or synthesizing feedback from different stakeholders.

Critical Evaluation & Source Assessment - The skill that's become absolutely crucial in 2025 because it includes determining credibility, identifying bias, and fact-checking information (especially AI-generated content).

The workplace reality is that these skills show up everywhere. Your team reads Slack messages, emails, processes reports, interprets data dashboards, and increasingly, validates AI-generated summaries and recommendations.

The Hidden Literacy Crisis in Professional Settings

Poor Reading Comprehension = Poor Decision Making

When team members struggle with text-based information, the ripple effects are massive:

• Misinterpreted instructions leading to project delays

• Critical details missed in contracts or compliance documents

• Ineffective communication causing team friction

• Vulnerability to misinformation (including AI hallucinations)

The AI Amplification Effect

Generative AI has created a new literacy challenge. Teams now need to:

• Quickly assess whether AI-generated content is accurate

• Identify when AI has misunderstood their prompts

• Synthesize AI outputs with other information sources

• Maintain critical thinking when AI "sounds" authoritative

The economic impact is staggering with "adults with low literacy skills earn nearly half that of their literate counterparts" (link).

This isn't about being anti-AI. It's about being AI-literate. And just literate in general I guess.

Why Traditional Training Falls Short

Most workplace literacy training treats reading like a passive activity. Employees sit through modules about "active reading strategies" or "critical thinking frameworks". I've sat through them, I've lead them, I've even designed these kinds of training scenarios.

Gross.

Real literacy is interactive. It's pattern recognition under pressure. It's making quick judgments about credibility while juggling multiple information streams.

That's exactly what happens when playing information-rich video games.

Game-Based Literacy Development: The Natural Connection

Story-Driven RPGs: Comprehension Under Pressure

Games like The Witcher 3 or Mass Effect present players with complex narrative choices that depend on careful reading. Players must:

• Process dialogue trees quickly to understand character motivations

• Synthesize information from multiple quest logs and journal entries

• Make decisions based on incomplete or conflicting information

• Evaluate the credibility of different in-game (or out-of-game) sources

These are the exact same cognitive processes your team uses when evaluating vendor proposals or synthesizing customer feedback.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - https://www.nintendo.com/en-ca/store/products/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-switch/?srsltid=AfmBOoouDAcwT-dGfpPPKVM7KXCTRH5COfNbjEG6b_wW_nW9E-wtJlFB

Strategy Games: Information Synthesis

Games like Civilization VI or Crusader Kings III overwhelm players with text-based information: diplomatic messages, resource reports, technology descriptions, and event notifications. Success requires:

• Intense text processing (sometimes under time pressure)

• Identifying key information while filtering out noise

• Cross-referencing multiple information sources

• Making strategic decisions based on written intelligence

Sound familiar? That's your team's daily information processing challenge.

Civilization VI - https://www.playstation.com/en-ca/games/sid-meier-s-civilization-vi/

Multiplayer Communication: Real-Time Literacy

Team-based games like Starcraft II or Diablo IV can create authentic literacy practice through:

• Chat-based coordination requiring clear, concise writing

• Real-time information sharing and interpretation

• Collaborative problem-solving through text communication

• Learning to distinguish reliable information from player misinformation
  

  

  Starcraft II - https://us.shop.battle.net/en-us/family/starcraft-ii#optLogin=true

  
  

Implementation Tips for Trainers

Try this: Start with games that match your team's reading comfort level. Stardew Valley has gentler text demands than Europa Universalis IV.

Accessibility note: Provide text size adjustment options and consider audio narration features for participants with different reading needs or visual impairments.

Platform considerations: Many story-rich games work across PC, console, and mobile platforms, making setup flexible for different group sizes and technical constraints.

Assessment integration: Use real workplace documents during debrief sessions—have participants apply their gaming reading strategies to actual emails, reports, or procedures.

Level Up Your Training: From Passive to Active Literacy

The bottom line: literacy isn't a skill you can lecture into existence. It's built through practice, feedback, and gradual challenge escalation.

Games provide authentic, engaging contexts for that practice. When your team learns to quickly process quest information, evaluate NPC credibility, and synthesize multiple narrative threads, they're building the exact cognitive muscles they need for workplace information processing.

Did that traditional "reading comprehension" workshop flop? Awesome! You just gathered data about the need for experiential literacy development!

Ready to practice literacy skills with your team in a low-stakes, high-impact environment? Book a consultation to design your custom workshop.