Functional illiteracy represents a profound and often underestimated challenge across the globe, confronting governments and societies worldwide. Far more complex than the mere inability to read or write, it signifies a deficit in the practical application of literacy skills necessary for navigating the demands of modern life. This article delves into the intricate nature of functional illiteracy, quantifies its pervasive impact across economic, health, and civic spheres, and explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (especially Generative AI) in fostering a more literate and equitable global society. It also introduces an open-source initiative we’ve been piloting at Google that targets that very need.

Couple of weeks ago I wrote an article here at the website discussing the big shift caused by the arrival of Generative AI in the industry of education. In that context, I mentioned that one of the ways this change was going to happen was that from now on, we’re going to get ourselves very focused on a given industry (because the knowledge about the industry truly matters now) and so, we’re going to be talking a lot more about use cases.

When the shift towards cloud computing happened in the market years ago, I remember seeing myself in meetings full of people explaining about what this new consumption-based business was all about and how the way of thinking the whole process of innovation and IT would need to change for this to make sense to companies. Right, I mean, moving virtual machines from on-prem to the public just to say “hey, my company runs on the cloud” didn’t (and still doesn’t) add any value to the business itself.

It was a Thursday night, around 9 PM in 2018 when a very expected email (with the headline saying “Microsoft US Job Offer - Cloud Solution Architect”) finally arrived at my Mail inbox. I remember it as if it had happened yesterday. The mix of emotions. Excitement and fear combined. Only thinking about it now makes me emotional. It was the materialization of a dream. Three months later, we were moving to the US with our hearts thankful, happy, sad and full of hope with our new chapter.