The U.S. Department of Labor released a national AI Literacy Framework on February 13, 2026, through Training and Employment Notice 07-25. The framework establishes voluntary guidance for employers, schools, workforce boards, and training providers to build AI literacy programmes. It defines five foundational content areas: understanding how AI works, exploring AI uses, prompting AI effectively, evaluating AI outputs, and managing AI responsibly. Seven delivery principles guide implementation: enabling experiential learning, building complementary human skills, creating pathways for continued learning, designing for agility, embedding learning in context, addressing prerequisites to AI literacy, and preparing enabling roles. The framework is explicitly positioned as voluntary guidance, with no new regulatory requirements imposed on companies or workers. It is intended to accelerate AI skill development for American youth, students, faculty, teachers, job seekers and workers across the country. The framework applies to K-12 schools, higher education, workforce development, and adult learners.
Who it affects: Employers, schools, workforce boards, training providers, and educators across K-12, higher education, and workforce development systems. The framework is designed for voluntary adoption; no population is legally required to meet its standards.
What is notably missing: The framework is voluntary and carries no enforcement mechanism. No binding requirement for schools or districts to implement any aspect of it. No dedicated funding for implementation. No mandate that students must achieve AI literacy by a specific grade or age. No requirement for teacher training or professional development—schools and districts may choose to act on the delivery principles or ignore them. The framework does not address how AI literacy should equip citizens to participate in governance or policy decisions about AI systems.