The Role of AI Literacy in Reducing Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization: A Psychoeducational Model

Description

Shaumya Shriya¹ and Ajit Kumar² (Department of Psychology, Magadh University, Bodhgaya, Bihar¹ and Department of Psychology, Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur, Bihar²)

Cyberbullying has emerged to be the ubiquitous psychological problem among teenagers and young adults with dire consequences on their mental, academic and social performance. Simultaneously, the rapid movement towards introducing artificial intelligence (AI) to the digital realm has changed the nature of interactions in the online environment, revealing and offering new opportunities and threats to disrupt. Despite the higher interest in the issue of cyberbullying prevention, there has been minimal efforts to emphasize the role of AI literacy, the ability to understand, critically evaluate and responsibly interact with AI-based technologies as a protective measure against cyberbullying perpetration and victimization. This paper proposes a psychoeducational model whereby AI literacy is one of the key mediating variables in preventing cyberbullying behaviours. The theory is summarized as a mix of theory in social-cognitive theory, digital citizenship education, and media literacy to theorize that more AI literate people are better placed to observe AI-mediated types of harassment (including deepfakes, automated trolling & amplification of harmful content by algorithms) and have stronger critical digital judgement and prosocial online behaviours. The moderating factors that are analyzed by the hypothesized model are the age, sex, the experience of previous victimization, and self-efficacy perceptions. Discussions on the implications of designing AI literacy-based psychoeducational interventions in schools and universities are made. The gap between the education of technology and promotion of mental health would be filled by this theoretical framework, and would equip the researchers and practitioners with a framework to solve the issue of cyberbullying in the age of artificial intelligence.