Have you ever wondered how social media such as Facebook and Instragram know what recommendations of new profiles or advertisement to make to us? How video platforms such as YouTube know what videos to recommend? How self-driving cars know how to drive or how the robot vacuum cleaners know how to find their way in our house? How platforms such as Facebook recognise faces in a photograph?  Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) play a huge role in these processes.

AI and ML are already ubiquitous in everyday life in fields such as speech and image recognition, personalised information on social media and search engines, and autonomous vehicles. They have the potential to bring unprecedented benefits to society. Concerns have also been raised, though, on the potential pitfalls and dangers regarding the decisions such systems might make, the autonomy of the AI agents, and the values embedded in their design. The new generation has to develop advanced digital literacy skills, question and critically analyse and interpret data and information, recognise misinformation spread via social media platforms, emerging cultural and social biases embedded in the architecture and design of computer systems, and the ethical and political implications.

To address these challenges, the LearnML project transfers the notion of AI literacy to primary and secondary education and aims to introduce students (and teachers) to the core principles of AI and ML through a uniquely designed game-based educational toolbox. Our goal is to introduce concepts of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to primary and secondary education students so that they can be able to navigate the complex digital space, effectively contribute to its design, develop into responsible citizens and insightful thinkers.