Nick Potkalitsky writes: “Almost three years after ChatGPT’s public debut, American schools find themselves caught in a familiar pattern: endless preparation cycles that defer the very learning they claim to enable. The readiness trap reveals a deeper misunderstanding: Artificial intelligence (AI) literacy isn’t a knowledge domain to be conquered but an ongoing interpretive practice. It’s not about achieving comprehensive understanding of AI training processes or settling ethical paradoxes. It’s about developing capacities for critical engagement with evolving textual and ideological systems.”