After reading, writing, arithmetic and basic digital competence, AI literacy becomes the fifth cultural skill. Anyone who does not understand how an algorithm makes decisions, what data it uses and where its limits lie cannot act as an informed citizen or employee.
Switzerland has the opportunity to set global standards in AI education -- if it invests now.
AI literacy is not a programming course. It is about:
The KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich has measured it: in the first eight months after the launch of ChatGPT, job postings for programmers fell by 20 per cent and for image generation by 17 per cent [1]. Avenir Suisse puts the number of office workers in direct AI competition at 490,000 [2]. These are not figures for 2040 -- they are now.
Anyone leaving secondary school today without AI literacy enters a labour market that is changing faster than any retraining programme can keep up with.
ETH Zurich and EPFL are to become national competence centres for AI education [3]. This means not only cutting-edge research but also:
The half-life of professional knowledge is shrinking. What is learnt today is partially obsolete in five to ten years. This affects not only IT professions but also lawyers, doctors, engineers and tradespeople who increasingly work with AI-powered tools.
Switzerland's dual education system -- the combination of workplace practice and classroom theory -- is a competitive advantage [4]. It is more flexible than purely academic systems and can integrate AI modules into existing curricula more quickly. Professional associations, industry organisations and companies are directly involved.
The greatest challenge lies not with the young but with the generation 40+. Administrative staff, bookkeepers and analysts who have been doing the same job for twenty years need realistic retraining pathways -- not six-month boot camps that miss the workplace reality.
Switzerland currently spends around CHF 40 billion per year on education [5]. A targeted increase in funding for AI education and retraining -- an estimated CHF 500 million to 1 billion annually -- would be an investment, not an expense, given the fiscal risks from job displacement.
A particularly promising application of AI education lies in democracy. When voters can access understandable, AI-powered impact assessments before every vote, it improves the quality of democratic decisions (see Democracy).
The prerequisite is that the population can critically evaluate AI-generated information. Without AI literacy, the AI impact assessment becomes an oracle that is blindly trusted -- the opposite of informed democracy.
Switzerland can learn from these models -- and combine them with its strength in vocational education.
AI education is not a niche topic for computer scientists. It is the prerequisite for the Swiss population to seize the opportunities of AI and control its risks -- as employees, as entrepreneurs and as voters.
[1] Gmyrek, P. et al.: Generative AI and Jobs. KOF ETH / ILO Working Paper, 2023.
[2] Avenir Suisse: Digitalisation and the Labour Market in Switzerland, 2024.
[3] Swiss Federal Council: Artificial Intelligence Strategy, 2024.
[5] Federal Statistical Office (FSO): Public Education Expenditure in Switzerland, 2023.
[6] University of Helsinki / Reaktor: Elements of AI.