AI is masking America's "post-literate" workforce

Millions of working Americans struggle to read at a functional level—and artificial intelligence may be helping hide it. Low literacy is quietly becoming a major economic drag, even as AI tools allow workers to complete tasks they may not fully understand. Experts warn that this can mask deeper skill gaps until workers are asked to make judgments, solve problems or evaluate AI-generated answers. Some researchers call this "cognitive surrender"—when people defer to AI outputs without fully evaluating them. That creates a workforce that looks productive on the surface but is vulnerable to disruption. Roughly 130 million U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level, according to adult literacy estimates. Low literacy at work is showing up in emails, safety instructions, training materials, math-heavy trades, health benefits forms, and computer-based tasks.