AI information literacy in knowledge work: a pathway from tool awareness to responsible information practice

Purpose As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) increasingly mediates information-intensive activities, greater attention is needed to the factors associated with critical, evaluative, and ethical AI information practices. This study examines AI information literacy in knowledge work, understood as the creation, processing, retrieval, evaluation, and application of information across varied occupational and educational contexts. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on survey data from 758 adults in Israel who completed screening concerning their current work or study status. Path analysis examined how perceived AI familiarity was associated with four AI information literacy domains: information creation and processing, assessment and critique, seeking and retrieval, and ethics. The model tested whether these associations operated through routine AI use, breadth of AI tool use, and perceived AI understanding. Findings Perceived AI familiarity was positively associated with both routine AI use and breadth of tool use. However, in the final model, only breadth of tool use was associated with stronger perceived AI understanding, whereas routine AI use was not. Perceived AI understanding was positively associated with all four AI information literacy domains. Significant indirect effects linked perceived AI familiarity to AI information literacy through breadth of tool use and perceived AI understanding. Originality/value The study distinguishes between routine GenAI use and breadth of tool use, two forms of engagement that are commonly treated as equivalent. While routine use was not associated with perceived AI understanding in the final model, breadth of tool use was. Perceived AI understanding, in turn, was associated with all four AI information literacy domains. These findings qualify the assumption that repeated use alone corresponds to greater literacy and identify breadth of engagement and perceived understanding as distinct correlates of responsible GenAI-mediated information practice.