Visual Literacy in the Age of Generative AI: Lessons from a Public Quiz and Student Workshops

The increasing realism of images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) presents new challenges for digital literacy, particularly in distinguishing authentic content from synthetic creations. This paper presents the results of a public online quiz in which participants were asked to distinguish AI-generated images from real photographs. Each of the ten questions featured a pair of images—one original photograph and one AI-generated version created based on a textual description of the original. With over a hundred responses collected, the average score was 5.79 out of 10, with a median of 6, suggesting moderate success but also highlighting the difficulty many users had in discerning AI-generated content. The distribution of results showed a wide range of performance, with most participants scoring between 4 and 8 points. Some images were consistently misclassified, revealing patterns in human perception and AI-generated visual deception. These insights were used to design a workshop for high school and college students on AI in libraries, focusing on visual literacy and critical evaluation of digital media. The workshops include hands-on analysis of real and generated images and discussions on the role of libraries in boosting AI awareness. This paper discusses quiz results, educational strategies, and reflections from student engagement, emphasizing the importance of integrating AI literacy into broader digital education initiatives.