PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Health Technology Implementation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1584883
Perspective: Advancing Public Health Education by Embedding AI Literacy
Provisionally accepted
- Ponce Health Sciences University, Ponce, Puerto Rico
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Artificial intelligence (AI) fundamentally reshaping public health practice, yet formal training in AI literacy remains scarce in most public health educational programs. The rapid emergence of large language models and other AI-driven technologies such as computer vision, predictive analytics, and natural language processing tools-used in applications ranging from epidemiological modeling and policy analysis to real-time health communication-highlights the urgent need to bridge a persistent knowledge gap in structured, competency-based AI training for public health students and professionals. This Perspective article introduces the growing role of AI in public health, examines challenges in diverse global settings, outlines current gaps in AI literacy training, and proposes a framework for integrating AI competencies into undergraduate, graduate, and continuing public health curricula. In doing so, it emphasizes the importance of equipping tomorrow's public health workforce with the ethical, technical, and critical-thinking skills needed to harness AI's potential to improve health outcomes and support public health practice across diverse and underserved communities.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, public health education, curriculum development, digital health literacy, Ethics
Received: 28 Feb 2025; Accepted: 01 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Acosta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jose A. Acosta, Ponce Health Sciences University, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.