Cited by 490Digital literacy in educationEthics and Social Impacts of AIArtificial Intelligence in Education

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 50 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 1 are not checked yet; 8 of the 35 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

MAILS - Meta AI literacy scale: Development and testing of an AI literacy questionnaire based on well-founded competency models and psychological change- and meta-competencies

Open access
Carolus, Astrid, Koch, Martin J., Straka, Samantha, Latoschik, Marc Erich, Wienrich, Carolin·2023·Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans

Abstract

Valid measurement of AI literacy is important for the selection of personnel, identification of shortages in skill and knowledge, and evaluation of AI literacy interventions. A questionnaire is missing that is deeply grounded in the existing literature on AI literacy, is modularly applicable depending on the goals, and includes further psychological competencies in addition to the typical facets of AIL. This paper presents the development and validation of a questionnaire considering the desiderata described above. We derived items to represent different facets of AI literacy and psychological competencies, such as problem-solving, learning, and emotion regulation in regard to AI. We collected data from 300 German-speaking adults to confirm the factorial structure. The result is the Meta AI Literacy Scale (MAILS) for AI literacy with the facets Use & apply AI, Understand AI, Detect AI, and AI Ethics and the ability to Create AI as a separate construct, and AI Self-efficacy in learning and problem-solving and AI Self-management (i.e., AI persuasion literacy and emotion regulation). This study contributes to the research on AI literacy by providing a measurement instrument relying on profound competency models. Psychological competencies are included particularly important in the context of pervasive change through AI systems.

Verified 2026-11-05 · 1 reference not checked yet

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

The paper develops and tests MAILS, a modular self-report questionnaire for AI literacy grounded in Ng et al.’s competency model and extended with psychological meta-competencies. In 300 German-speaking adults, confirmatory factor analyses supported AI Literacy facets (Use & Apply AI, Know & Understand AI, Detect AI, AI Ethics), a separate Create AI factor, and two psychological domains: AI Self-efficacy and AI Self-competency.

Key findings

  • The final modified CFA model had good fit despite a significant chi-square: χ²(513) = 886.87, p < .001, CFI = .926, TLI = .920, RMSEA = .057, 95% CI [.051, .063], SRMR = .079.
  • AI Literacy was supported as a higher-order factor with “Use & Apply AI,” “Know & Understand AI,” “Detect AI,” and “AI Ethics”; “Create AI” did not load on AI Literacy and correlated with it at r = .49.
  • Instead of one AI Self-management factor, the study found two domains: “AI Self-efficacy” (AI Learning and AI Problem solving) and “AI Self-competency” (AI Persuasion literacy and AI Emotion regulation).
  • In the extended model including attitudes and willingness to use technology, fit was acceptable: χ²(2035) = 3004.35, p < .001, CFI = .900, TLI = .894, RMSEA = .043, 95% CI [.039, .047], SRMR = .069; AI Literacy correlated with AI Self-competency at .86 and AI Self-efficacy at .93.

Methods

  • Online survey of 300 German-speaking adults recruited via Prolific on 3–4 November 2022; mean age 32.13 years (SD = 11.66, range 18–72), 48.33% female, 50.67% male, 1.00% diverse.
  • Items were generated from AI literacy literature and psychological competency concepts: 72 AI literacy/self-assessment items plus 12 AI self-management items, with 68 items retained for analysis after review.
  • Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in R with lavaan (version 0.6-12) using robust Satorra-Bentler estimation; the model was modified after poor initial fit by removing low-loading items, moving three Know & Understand AI items to Detect AI, separating Create AI, and splitting AI Self-management into AI Self-efficacy and AI Self-competency.

Limitations

  • The paper states the sample was online and specific to German-speaking individuals living in Germany or Austria, and that no already validated AI literacy instrument was available to validate the questionnaire against.
  • The authors state that because they made changes to the model after testing it, their approach should be considered exploratory, and future research should test the factorial structure in independent samples.
  • The paper states the most important next step is validation with external criteria such as tests, tasks, expert evaluations, group differences, intervention change, or future validated questionnaires; the text also makes evident that the findings rely on self-report and cross-sectional correlational data rather than behavioral outcomes.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.chbah.2023.100014

Cites

50 of 51 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

8 of 35 cited sources checked · 1 supported · 2 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 51 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 16
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 17
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 2
29 of 29
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The introduction of AI systems is often accompanied by general change processes that must be mastered constructively.

    “since the introduction of AI systems is often accompanied by general change processes that must be mastered constructively.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Many prospective users of AI who are already working will not benefit from AI education in schools right now.

    “However, many prospective users of AI who are already working will not benefit from AI education in schools right now.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    New developments in AI might unsettle potential users, lead to failed behavior, and reduce perceived behavioral control.

    “Innovations might unsettle potential users, lead to failed behavior, and thus reduce perceived behavioral control.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Self-assessed AI competencies reflect actual AI competencies.

    “It appears that individuals with higher positive attitudes, lower negative attitudes, and more willingness to use technology are also more likely to consider themselves competent [1, 46, 48].”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The factorial structure identified in this sample is valid in the population.

    “Future research should aim to test the factorial structure we identified in independent samples.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The items based on the existing literature adequately cover AI literacy.

    “We based our developed items on the existing literature on AI literacy and psychological competencies.”
6 of 6

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Technology-competence mean is incompatible with its median and maximum

    Major

    With a median of 4.29 and a maximum of 5.00, the mean cannot exceed 4.645. The reported mean of 4.83 is therefore impossible for this sample.

    Reported 4.83 · recomputed 4.645

  • Geographic limitation excludes participants reported to live elsewhere

    Minor

    The limitations describe the sample as German-speaking individuals living in Germany or Austria, but the sample description places only 77% in Germany and 7% in Austria. The remaining 16% lived elsewhere.

  • Initial AI-literacy item count differs between abstract and methods

    Minor

    The abstract says 60 AI-literacy items were derived, plus 12 psychological-competency items. The methods instead say 72 AI-literacy items were generated, plus 12 additional items, for a total of 84.

3 of 3

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 47 references

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Bandura, 2006, Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales, Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents, 5, 307
  2. Kim, 2022, The artificial intelligence literacy scale for middle school students, Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information, 27, 225
  3. Polanco-Levicán, 2022, Digital interaction literacy model – conceptualizing competencies for literate interactions, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 1

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 101–200 of 490

Metadata

Authors
Carolus, A., Koch, M. J., Straka, S., Latoschik, M. E., & Wienrich, C.
Affiliations
University of Würzburg (DE)
Corresponding author
Koch, Martin J.
Venue
Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2023-08
Volume
1
Issue
2
Pages
100014
ISSN
2949-8821 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4387368391
Cited by
488
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 274 · 2025: 160 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 7
FWCI
88.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Computers in Human Behavior Artificial Humans (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
Funders
Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (DKI.00.00030.21)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Digital literacy in education
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Education › Artificial Intelligence in Education
Keywords
AI literacy, questionnaire development, scale validation, psychological competence, AI self-efficacy, emotion regulation, AI ethics, problem solving, competency model

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-05, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-05 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review